dVerse OLN

City Dweller – Poem by Ali Grimshaw

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 23 Comments

“You are comprised of 84 minerals, 23 Elements, and 8 gallons of water spread across 38 trillion cells. You have been built up from nothing by the spare parts of the Earth you have consumed, according to a set of instructions hidden in a double helix and small enough to be carried by a sperm. You are recycled butterflies, plants, rocks, streams, firewood, wolf fur, and shark teeth, broken down to their smallest parts and rebuilt into our planet’s most complex living thing.

You are not living on Earth. You are Earth.”

— Aubrey Marcus

My heart has felt the isolation of cold times
walls that didn't allow visitors to enter.

if I had grown up in the forest 
sung to by the wind in the trees
watched the birds flit, feed and gather in song

if I had slept by the rushing river
soothed by it magical movement
of freedom to flow over and between 

if I had foraged with the bears
following their lead to thread through
undergrowth to find my fill

would I have ever met loneliness?

Does separation exist for forest dwellers 
moss to mouse
tree to tribe
river to racoon
webbed connections none to separate?

© Ali Grimshaw 2022

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Beckoning – Poem by Ali Grimshaw

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 35 Comments 
turning the page
tilts my story's full, first half

daybreak spills, spreading

past pages highlighted 
scribbled, dog-eared 

moldable mornings
of my middle life

a return route mapped
for when memory fades

my shadow lengthens
I am far past sunrise 

now imagination holds 
the pen 

©Ali Grimshaw 2022

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Taking Flight – Poem by Ali Grimshaw

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 26 Comments 
Transitions are in the air... some are leaving the nest for flight. 

As you join the others
a new word grows inside me,

a tight bundled joypain sits within
my chest cracking open to release 

the scent of baby powered damp hair

for the many practiced days have passed
the next migration is a solo flight.

Your sturdy shoulders of readiness 
experimental charm accompanied with grin

will be a gift many will appreciate.

Your graduation to come 
is a forced exhale and I breathe in 

the flight to come.

Shake off the illusion, you were never 
really mine from the start. 

You have always belonged to to the world.

I was always ever the warm nest
from which you would someday fly.

©Ali Grimshaw 2022

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Dedicated to all parents of graduates.  Yes, part of your heart is stepping out into the world to touch the lives of others. Let it go. Part of it will stay with you forever. What a privilege to experience this amazing journey of expanding love. Congratulations.

Sipping – Poem by Ali Grimshaw

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 31 Comments 
she didn't need to know how to pronounce the name
of what grew before her delicately vivid

she didn't need to understand how it pollinated
or the temperatures it withstood last winter

she didn't need to know why it arrived 
who brought it from afar or how it survived

her eyes saw the magenta magnificence
drank in the sweet joy of bloom in a cup

tasted the miniture petals
an elixer of revival

©Ali Grimshaw 2022

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Welcome – Poem By Ali Grimshaw

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 33 Comments 
I stumbled upon this tree and she had much to share
"I'm twisted and far from upright but that won't stop me

from blue sky mornings, feeling the sun warm each layer
of my thick skin muffling me from the critics of all things

that don't look quite straight. Let the rain drip down 
your skin. What? You say you haven't stood naked in the rain?

You haven't lived until you've felt singular drops land cool
one, then another to awaken aliveness once lost to you.

Stick with me kid. There's no reason to return to the city.
Let me see your Tree Pose. Beautiful! Welcome to the grove."

©Ali Grimshaw 2022

For day 13 of Na/GloPoWriMo. Everything is going to be amazing.

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Photo taken in the desert outside of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. 
What a magical experience to meet this grandmother tree.

Just in case – Poem by Ali Grimshaw

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 40 Comments 
soft
giggles
like crumbs of encouragement

warm
murmurs
like holding a shaking hand

pillows of 
intention
there to catch you

if,
just if.

©Ali Grimshaw 2022

None of us knows what tomorrow will bring. 
Yet, I do know that I can choose love and I will.

dVerse – Open Link Night #311

Transitory – Poem by Ali Grimshaw

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 19 Comments 
I built a bridge to you
using marshmallows and glue
It was worth the sticky effort
then it melted in the rain.

I threw a magic ruby rope
woven with sparkles of hope
singing enchantments 
to call you closer.

I dug a river of blue
inviting a float on my skin
to pull you within
but you preferred to fly.

I nested a home for myself
cocooned through my pain.
With a change in the winds
on a zephyr you rode in.

© Ali Grimshaw 2022

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Photo take at the fantastic Chihuly Garden last summer when I was still traveling.

Improvement- Poem by Ali Grimshaw

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 35 Comments 
Do birds tweet tips to build the ultimate nest
the perfect moss, twigs and feathers, 
compare upgrades while glancing at neighboring trees?
Are their morning songs full of howtos
improvements for the hatching experience 
which worms provide ultimate first year growth? 
Do they evaluate whose chick flies first
beak prodding, edging young to the side of the nest?

Do whales train for the record breaking swim 
gossip about sleek oils to reduce resistance, 
or share tips for secret feeding grounds?
Do they nose their young to be better, faster, more
than the last generation in hope of survival?
Do they feel the temperature change 
of homeland waters and wonder?

What does it mean to live up to your full potential?
Who decides what that looks like while growing inside
a cage of culture we have been born into? More is 
better or not, faster? Further? More fragile?
What says the wisdom of each being? 

When have I last heard my beating heart?

© Ali Grimshaw 2021 

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Briefly – Poem by Ali Grimshaw

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 30 Comments
Fallen Leaf Art by Nikola Faller in Osijek, Croatia – More inspiring photos HERE
Briefly

Stages and ages of crimson edges
crisp rounds, centers of golden.

Veins will remain long after the delicate 
sections have disassembled themselves
to join the soil for another cycle. 

These elders don't fight seasonal changes.
Through the quiet and loud
or bend and wave of storm
they receive while sheltering seedings below

forever willing to show their nakeness 
in the darkest of times.
With empty arms
while full of life within.

Their offerings a mosaic
of temorary color.

© Ali Grimshaw 2021

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Sustaining – Poem by Ali Grimshaw

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 51 Comments 
As the virus
careens
spinning down
our long road.

The dust has yet
to settle
from the wheels.

Slow motion 
particles fall
as we sift silently
through glittered 
remembering.

Was that last month
or yesterday?

As I am here
reaching
you are there
still
only through airwaves

and yet I hear
your love.

© Ali Grimshaw 2021

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Open Link Night HERE