Sometimes I think back on that night.
Your eyes intent on explaining, a look of determination,
of wanting to give.
I remember trying to hear you,
wanting to understand and failing to understand.
With each new telling, static filling the room.
Making adjustments to find your frequency.
Unable to tune you in.
Now I am left wondering.
What was it you so badly wanted me to know.
Feeling like I couldn’t get to the airport in time,
before your message took flight.
© Ali Grimshaw
Tweeting and yelping and posting and texting
so much to say
words flying, tumbling, and flung fast
landing so loudly
I cannot hear the song of your voice
knock on my door
at least let me try to hear your words
as they fall from your mouth
with nothing added but fresh air
© Ali Grimshaw
You are a blue sky.
A color that I love to get lost in.
A consistent and ever-changing
backdrop for others,
and stand alone marvel.
Sometimes filled with challenging clouds
opening my eyes
to visions of blue
I’ve not seen.
© Ali Grimshaw
In fading light,
glowing colors blend
and it is impossible to tell
where one begins. So it is
with you and I. When did I begin on my own?
So many years you nurtured and cooked, rocked,
encouraged, and cared for me while fighting for yourself.
As we unblended and became our separate colors, lessons were learned.
What was said and what was left empty in the room for me to choose.
The boundary of where you stood, lines I sometimes crossed.
In the mirror of the years I am in awe of your effort.
You gave, at minimum, years of listening
with your whole face turned toward mine.
Intent on taking each word in
not letting a single one
escape your ear.
Mother’s Day 2016 – Dedicated to my mother and her commitment to keeping her colors vibrant while letting me find my own.
© Ali Grimshaw 2016
Oxygen continues to enter,
passing straight through fear.
Love will continue to breath for you,
when you cannot breath for yourself.
© Ali Grimshaw
The strength you possess
growing just where you landed
nourished by sparse light
no gardener to tend you
pushing through the cracks
away from your roots
toward warmth of another
to be seen.
© Ali Grimshaw
I see hope in your eyes.
A flash of light that has been absent.
Just a sliver of believing,
you never thought you could hold.
A small beacon inside,
beginning to send out its light
after a long darkness.
© Ali Grimshaw
Cut yourself free
from the weight of all not forgiven
a constricting of vitality, past failures squeeze
the tangle of rope, disallows a full breath.
Each memory binds, an internal tightening
of a time you did not stop it,
didn’t stand up tall for yourself.
Patterns of knots encircle your being.
Twisted, wound round, strangled voice.
If you would have been smarter, stronger, better …
If only you had been more.
© Ali Grimshaw Revised 2018
In the dark night raining.
Each flower drinks in,
readying itself for dawn.
With no eyes to witness,
the gentle petals imbibe.
A secret kept to themselves.
© Ali Grimshaw 2016
Let me send my love to you
lightly floating on the wind.
A force that sails ships across the ocean.
Let my kisses evaporate into the clouds.
When they reach your shore,
love will rain down upon you.
© Ali Grimshaw
flashlight batteries - Ali Grimshaw 