Today I wrote a gift for you
my pen pulled my hand along, (it is braver than I)
it knows how to lay my heart wide open,
like a prairie to the sky
nowhere to hide, expansive and still
miles from adequate for what I wish to give.
© Ali Grimshaw
Originally shared February 2017
One step to the right
not a stretch, just a nudge
shift of weight to the side.
One step away
between worry and wonder
landscape of exhaustion
or possibility.
Not a marathon, nothing to train for,
just one
small
step.
Get your shoes on.
wonder is waiting.
© Ali Grimshaw 2018
Photo credit to Pixabay.com
Thinking in reverse
months tip, like dominos
to revisit that summer day.
Longing for this cleansing pool,
offering of chilled calmness
encircled by stone, here I joined
the river of slow movement,
pulling at my rapid pulse.
Plucking the notes ever slower.
Heartbeat dissolving
until I was
just being
water.
© Ali Grimshaw
She lived in a dented silver trailer
plainly, without shine inside and out.
The window view of sea
filled her need for decoration.
Constant rhythm of wave reassurance
ever evolving color of cloud, mist, fog
always filled her with belonging.
Passersby with lipfrowning judgement
downcast look of sadness at her dwelling
would never know her truth.
She had found her community of paradise
between wind and simplicity.
© Ali Grimshaw 2018
Some see your failures
knocked down times in the dirt
I see your bravery for again and again
clear knowing of the cost to living
with your box lid on tight.
Determination to make your own view
a horizon few reach.
© Ali Grimshaw 2018
Photo by the talented Awar Meman. See his work on Instagram at pdxphotographer
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
© Ali Grimshaw 2018
Upright they stand
(weathered and disregarded)
thinking themselves powerful.
Vulnerable to elements and eyes
yet never losing their dignity.
It is clarity of purpose that
leaves them self assured
while the landscape
is transformed around them.
They will forever remain
side by side, dependable
a community of stone.
© Ali Grimshaw 2017
Portugal 2017
Unopened,
a day unlike any other,
full of promises on each fingertip,
waking to the blessing of a full breath,
expansion of love in your lungs
the privilege of aliveness
born dancing.
Happy New Year 2018
He made the plain and simple
a view of miraculous. With just
a touch. All became encased overnight
by a spell of magic.
A landscape of tiny glass castles.
Her damp feet, nourished soul
left her with a wondering, as if
it almost never happened.
Had winter sun
melted her glass slippers away?
© Ali Grimshaw 2017
flashlight batteries - Ali Grimshaw 