When it overflows,
clean and soothing.
A caress down your shoulders,
like fresh falling rain
a compassion of gentle
feathered touch.
The way you wished
your mother had held you
Hold yourself now,
embraced by love.
Within your own
two arms.
forgiveness
Soul Box
Stars could fade, darkness
like nothing, this world without
you as my heart light.
© Ali Grimshaw 2019
THE SOUL BOX PROJECT is a national community art project calling for the making of one hand-folded paper box to represent every person killed or injured by gunfire in the U.S. since 2014. Hundreds of thousands of these Boxes will be displayed together in massive art installations to reveal the staggering number of gunfire victims.
If you are near Portland, Oregon you can fold boxes on the second Wednesdays of the month from 4 – 6:30 pm at the THE CENTER FOR SPIRITUAL WELLBEING, 7100 SW HAMPTON ST SUITE 126 PORTLAND, OR 97223
Find out more at SoulBoxProject.org
“The point is, art never stopped a war and never got anybody a job. That was never its function. Art cannot change events. But it can change people… because people are changed by art – enriched, ennobled, encouraged – they then act in a way that may affect the course of events… by the way they vote, they behave, the way they think.” – Leonard Bernstein
She – a poem by Ali Grimshaw
She learned to take herself
out of her body, to separate
no longer be encased by flesh.
She learned to go, bundle her spirit
carry it out and away, above the invasion
the uninvited intolerable penetration.
She learned numbness, not to be
within her skin, to pack up her
soul and exit, just until it was over.
She learned how,
survival was her teacher.
It was the only way.
She didn’t know help
with mouth stitched closed
only endurance walked with her.
© Alicia Grimshaw 2018
A benevolent view
what you had always assumed
to be solid, now soggy sadness
water warped windows with
a view misguided, bended
memories altered the truth
will you forgive yourself
for all that was unseen before?
© Alicia Grimshaw 2018
Second Chances
what must we pay for
our history, a fresh start
seaward in one boat.
© Alicia Grimshaw 2018
Na/GloPoWriMo – April is National/Global Poetry Writers Month
Haiku Horizons
I hear it.
among the fallen plaster
disrepair, wrinkles of error
some may think irredeemable
not broken beyond salvage
surrendered in thick layers
your heart lies beating.
I hear it.
© Ali Grimshaw 2018
Shedding Shame
Willing my body to enter the room
a mountain of mortification on my back
being seen while craving camouflage.
Owning the me that showed up
failure and intention, the human package
tied up with a bow of expectations.
While seeking an empty seat,
I investigate shedding shame, cast off
of the past. Owning my skin before
molting of forgiveness.
© Ali Grimshaw 2018
Sintra, Portugal 2017 – Weathered
Firecracker Phrases
Now I sit in thought with
what I wish
I would have said
instead of that which came flying off my tongue
like butterflies leaving my mouth
beautiful at first sight
fluttering innocently toward you
with a closer look
upon landing
were really illegal firecrackers
of golden red that
left you speechless.
I’m sorry.
© Ali Grimshaw 2017
Forgive your mistakes. Forgiving Connects.
Regretting
Sometimes a regret comes back to life
to emerge as a poem
morphing as it translates into words
pain blossoming
on a single stem.
Each petal overlapping
some parts me
some parts you
forming an image fixed in time
an elixir of us
I drink in
to set us both free.
© Alicia Grimshaw 2016
Doorway to Forgiveness
Dulled by time, the dusty door
coated from years of holding back
nailed shut, painfully impassable
darkness left sealed for so long
you can’t remember it ever being open.
Bewildered frustration, heat rises
sweat drips down your chest
fury and defeat of stones tied to feet.
This emotional cycle circles through
each day as you stand before it.
Maybe it isn’t possible to reopen
you are so small.
But look
you still hold the hammer in your hand
the key dangles from your back pocket.
© Alicia Grimshaw 2017
In honor of Forgiving Fridays on Forgiving Connects
flashlight batteries - Ali Grimshaw 