He is a crafty one
who can lull you into forgetting
like a hypnotist, he waves headlines
his pocket watch of daily disasters
"Be afraid, be very afraid,"
while waiting for your heart to go cold,
enter a hibernation of hate.
Yet, Mr. Fear underestimates
the determination
of your being to love.
You fight for the sunlight in others.
Shock arises on his face
when you stand up to hug him.
He will never be the same again.
© Ali Grimshaw 2024
Hope is a muscle. It is a vigorous choice, to see what is wrong and what needs healing and needs repair and needs our attention and also to keep our hearts and our imaginations and our energy oriented towards what we want to build, what we want to create, what we’re walking towards. – Krista Tippett
if each person is a light if we are billions of shades shifting into place a musical kaleidoscopic view of chromaticity each piece a necessity of brilliant contrasts an ever changing infinitely beautiful song what splendor of possibilities sparkles this world if we chose ourselves as magnificent beings of change hope in full color © Ali Grimshaw 2023 Join me at dVerse Poets' for Open Link Night HERE.
Photo of stained glass skylight from Palau de la Música Catalana, Barcelona, Spain 2018. If you ever visit Barcelona don’t miss this space.
"I know things. I've seen things. I don't know what you're going through, though. I've held troubles, but they weren't shaped like yours. I've lost, but none of my missing pieces would have filled your gaps. I know some things, not all things." from a poem called, the knowing by Ra Avis Circling back coming round sliding through this Autumn arc I greet myself a younger version of complex cells she is just a beginning a growing lightness wrapped in doubt © Ali Grimshaw 2022 Weekly Prompts Weekend Challenge – Alone Come join us for a creative boost. HERE Photo of God's Thumb Hike, Oregon Coast Click HERE for information
“A practice of gratitude is not about dismissing sadness, anger, fear, or confusion. Rather, it offers us the opportunity to see that we often experience multiple feelings at once; to welcome joy into the same places where we hold grief; to turn our attention to what is quietly growing and breathing day by day, which, to our possible surprise, includes ourselves.” – Kristin Lin, Editor, The On Being Project
Photo take in Lisbon, a trip with my sweetheart.
hate screams black in fear, with intent
to turn listener to stone or distraction
what you think is the opposition
dressed in defenses worn comfortably
is only, just another
scared, eyes-wide and searching
no different than the face in
your bathroom mirror each morning
© Alicia Grimshaw 2018
Your judgmental gaze cannot melt
the lines of my mistakes, they have become
collective beauty I hold as my reward for living
unimaginable shapes to fill with crayoned hues
I am my own coloring book
not available for purchase
© Alicia Grimshaw 2018
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
Celebrate Summer.
Don’t wait.
Be present to it’s taste.
Your bones scream to rest
an anvil on your chest
no dawn comes lightly.
Invite the monster to sit with you
it gains ugliness with denial
put your arm around that which
you don’t want to hold.
© Alicia Grimshaw 2018
“When you come out of the grips of a depression there is an incredible relief, but not one you feel allowed to celebrate. Instead, the feeling of victory is replaced with anxiety that it will happen again, and with shame and vulnerability when you see how your illness affected your family, your work, everything left untouched while you struggled to survive. We come back to life thinner, paler, weaker … but as survivors. Survivors who don’t get pats on the back from coworkers who congratulate them on making it.” – Jenny Lawson’s book Furiously Happy
According to her internal judge
she was never up to par,
even when crossing the finish line first
accomplishment slid off her skin. Always
gripping, holding on for acceptance.
Yet perplexed separation pained her days.
She wanted belonging
and never wanted to fit in
knew it would change her.
A part broken off to float away irretrievable.
No one else stayed after class to console the bullied teacher.
It never occurred to her not to.
She saw those faces on the fringe,
secretly knowing she was an outlier as well.
She let go of the kinship rope
not to lose herself.
© Alicia Grimshaw 2017
flashlight batteries - Ali Grimshaw 