Painted leaves sing in unison Unlike music, their song is soundless harmony. This orchestra of glow soothes the tempo of an internal pounding from a day of instruments that refused to play the same song. Fall catches you with muted volume a serenade of equilibrium let the blushing colors sing you home. © Alicia Grimshaw (rewrite of 2018 poem)
My bare feet travel riverside down the dust talcum path. They feel the way forward while softly grounded in the fine dirt. As the bank of trees lean to shade, the river glides past, over and around rocks. Here it seems effortless for lives of birds, fish and plants to thrive together. None needing to shame or blame. Is it just my interpretation or have the living of the river ecosystem always known that there is enough for all, that everyone’s time will someday pass, that we will someday be nourishment for the next in line and there is peace in the acceptance of being a part of the changing cycle? There seems to be balance here. The kind of balance I am always seeking. As I hike up the pants, I have yet to grow into, I wonder if humans really are the more evolved species. It seems that I have so much to learn from the Osprey’s willingness to try again and the way rivers shift course without blaming the logs that have fallen to block their route. As I pack up my tent site I am already planning my return.
The river knows flow transforming place without shame forgiving teacher © Ali Grimshaw 2020 Haibun Monday, 8/31/20:Take a Hike! Join in the sharing at dVerse Poet's Pub.
photo by antilandscpaper 2-26-20
Hummingbirds have been baffling scientists for years. Matt Ransford commented, “The hummingbird is an animal that by all rights shouldn’t be able to fly” (Popular Science). But not only can this bird fly, it is the only bird able to fly forwards, backward, up, down, sideways, upside down, and even hover. – Mar 23, 2012
Breath from within me floats out to join yours,
to settle on the brown ground beside
join the atmosphere’s chorus
sing with our exhale.
The tree we sit beneath is not excluded from our song.
Lightly soft, it hums new life down upon us.
With static on the radio world leaders move their pieces, play tunes of war.
Under the tree we continue to breathe each other.
© Alicia Grimshaw 2017/Rewrite 2019
a time to keep silence near
exhale’s companion
a sound of not needing
to hold on,
open palm invitation
to allow the next
while nestled in cocooned cotton
like snowflakes in your hair
layers of white quiet, an offering
you didn’t have to earn
© Ali Grimshaw 2019
Quadrille for d’Verse – Turn, Turn, Turn
Painted leaves sing in unison
Unlike music, their song
is soundless harmony.
This orchestra of color
soothes the tempo
an internal pounding
from a day of instruments
that refused to play
the same song.
Fall catches me
with muted volume
a serenade of equilibrium.
© Alicia Grimshaw 2018
if I could hand out
flying with clouds, beyond pain,
relief your eyes seek
© Alicia Grimshaw 2018
National Relaxation Day
Celebrate Summer.
Don’t wait.
Be present to it’s taste.
At the station, the train of life only pauses
our illusion of control blankets nature’s causes.
Nights to days shift, and the engineer steers
rhythm of the planet moves through the years.
Cycle of no endings, wheels freely spin
untouchable by human error, solstice arrives again.
© Alicia Grimshaw 2018
flashlight batteries - Ali Grimshaw 