life

Closed Shutters

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 4 Comments

Light filtered through shutters, yet she chose darkness. 

For months she pushed it away, terrified 

of being consumed, eaten whole. 

Adamant in her refusal to sit with it.

 

Now she contemplates the dark.

Always kept at arm’s length

.

This unfamiliar,

meeting it for the first time.

It is not as cold to touch as expected.

 

Unwilling to go it alone, she invites 

Curiosity to accompany her

and this new nameless acquaintance

to hide under the blanket together.

 

She turns to face them,

leans in to hear their voices

more surprised than terrified.

 

© Alicia Grimshaw 2017

Photo taken in Amsterdam 2014

Forbidden Separateness

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 14 Comments

img_2168

Never adrift

always within arm’s length

inseparable as far back

as memory will reach,

weathered worn wise

with fantasies of

chain breaking

to float free.

© Alicia Grimshaw 2017

Adrift – The Daily Post Challenge

PIC AND A WORD Challenge #68

It was everywhere…

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 4 Comments

In the air,

on the surface of leaves.

Streaming down the street

into potholes.

It was in the exhale

of runners on the road.

It was like the mist, gentle yet

undeniable.

She wondered why

some still

could not see it.

© Alicia Grimshaw 2017

 

 

 

 

 

Windstorm

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 8 Comments

knocked down

like a tree after a storm

my trunk horizontal

broken limbs at odd angles

body left with jagged holes exposed

pieces scattered near and far down the lane

some parts even seem to have disappeared

now I think I understand how humpty dumpty felt

there isn’t a way to put the pieces back together

it is time to start again

look for fertile soil

plant myself where sunlight will reach me.

© Alicia Grimshaw 2017

 

 

 

Long before…

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 15 Comments

In the unfinished

before the credits scroll past

can you choose acceptance

without an end,

before the conclusion

without approval from the crowd?

Between the ribs, within

deeply, a voice

the one you used to hear

before you thought the others

were the ones that mattered.

Knew better and overruled your soul.

Before you decided

who you weren’t going to be.

© Alicia Grimshaw 2017

 

 

Beyond Boundaries

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 13 Comments

 

image

There is no hourglass

of time

in love.

 

It matters not,

if months or years pass,

love is beyond physical bodies

beyond boundaries.

 

Like a favorite song

heard from the middle of the tune.

There is no less joy to listen.

 

Locked away, rust resistant

“Love has no expiration date.”

 

© Alicia Grimshaw 2017

Photo taken in 2016 while hiking on the Cinque Terre in Italy.

Wanderlust Photo Challenge