d’verse
Traveler
Your silhouetted resilience
of an almost ageless traveler
with kid’s eyes of curious.
Ready for all that is,
wildly wondrous.
Unwilling to miss a viewpoint
be it window wide
or mountaintop.
Fractured city lights illuminate
all the bold and beloved
I see in you.
© Ali Grimshaw 2020
dVerse Quadrille #96 Wild
Dedicated to my adventurous life partner, Adam.
Smoke Signals
I woke to the burning,
smoked letters across wide sky
that only we could decode.
The weight of getting it right,
to know their secrets, before pierced sunlight
deemed them unreadable.
I, just one of many, leaders as mountains
whose waters are running dry.
Heads bare, exposed to weather’s ruling.
© Ali Grimshaw 2019
Dusk
Quiveringly quiet,
with anticipation of freedom,
framed by the sturdily built doorway,
she waits to greet dusk,
smelling the wind of tomorrow coming.
Once outside, she will never wear
that heavy cloak of blame again.
Even her shadow will no longer
be the same.
© Alicia Grimshaw 2019
dVerse quadrille – Quiver
Departure – Poem by Ali Grimshaw
At the seasonal station
the train of life only pauses
departure depends on your duration
illusion of control blankets nature’s causes.
Days to nights shift and the engineer steers
hibernating bunks of linked sleepers softly
breathe away their past selves
rhythm of the planet moves through the years.
Travelers lulled to comforted right
cycle of no endings, wheels freely spin
balance tipped toward the night
untouchable by human error, solstice arrives again.
© Ali Grimshaw 2019
Unwind – Poem by Ali Grimshaw
Think in reverse
months tip, like dominos
to revisit that summer day.
Longing for this cleansing pool,
an offering of chilled calmness
encircled by stone.
Here I joined the river
of slow movement
strumming my heartstrings
plucking the notes ever slower
pulse dissolving
until I was
just being
water.
© Ali Grimshaw (rewrite)
d’Verse (OLN)
Conclusion
When something ends
the road behind washed away
the tightrope cut
the plane in flight
before forward lights have appeared
illuminating the next.
When something ends
what is the point in cramming your feet
into the shoes of the past?
Unless you want to walk in pain.
When something ends
after the sobbing,
and grief has dried up.
That’s when you know,
that’s when you finally know
the word
precious
for the first time.
© Ali Grimshaw 2019
Theory of the Undaunted – Poem by Ali Grimshaw
hold spontaneity in one hand
hold courage in the other
after hesitation kisses you goodbye
jump into your future
let possibility
fully fill your lungs
float untethered, without
holding your breath
until the shore
disrobes the fog
then swim with the passion
of another year
you never thought
you would have.
© Ali Grimshaw 2019
d’Verse Poets Pub – Theories of Everything
The photo was taken in Portland, Oregon – Inspiring quote by Brene Brown
Cultivate – Poem by Ali Grimshaw
Shadowed understory no longer needed
sprout through old layers of indecision
boldly bolt toward sunlight to come.
Regardless of broken branches,
depleted soil from years
of growing the same crops.
Angle for full height, extension
of reach, beyond what is
expected of your species.
Grow yourself beyond
the gardens of your past
self.
© Ali Grimshaw 2019
“Both abundance and lack exist simultaneously in our lives, as parallel realities. It is always our conscious choice which secret garden we will tend.” – Sarah Ban Breathnach
Open Link Night – d’Verse Poets Pub
Hum – poem by Ali Grimshaw
Behind, underneath yet also intertwined
with softly sounded movement of bees
yet not quite a song, of all that generates
thrives for growth beyond survival music.
These background singers of inspired hum
as I branch out toward new sky, consider
a transplant beyond my container
soil in colors my roots have never reached.
© Ali Grimshaw 2019
Photo taken Kauai, Hawaii 2018
