poem
I’m Gonna Walk It With You
“Well it looks like it might be a hard road but I’m gonna walk it with you.
And you know that you might have a heavy load but I can carry some too.”
This song is carrying me forward. I am learning the words. I am singing out even when my voice doesn’t sound pretty. Music heals and keeps us breathing. Sing yourself through the day. Here is the Youtube video. “I’m Gonna Walk It With You” by Brian Claflin and Ellie Grace
All of us
together
while separate
singing softly, for life
as we walk this road
let’s share the load
come together, while apart
in love.
© Alicia Grimshaw 2020
Sending love to all those who are scared, worried, sheltering in place. Please let me know how you are doing. I am available to listen and write with you via skype, facetime or whatsapp. Together we will get through this.
Pep Talk – poem by Ali Grimshaw
“I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.” – Mother Teresa
Show up.
Be your
unique colors.
That’s enough.
Even when you doubt.
Even when you think it won’t work.
Even when you’re scared.
Show up.
That’s enough.
Those that came before
did just that.
Day after day
after day.
Show up.
Stand up.
Speak up.
Stop to listen from your heart.
Breathe.
You are ok.
Now repeat.
© Alicia Grimshaw 2020
Photo taken in NYC July 2019
Singing through the cracks
And they sang
through the cracks of pain
through the wandering worries
through the regrets, determined desires
to be true to their calling hearts.
And they sang
because song was needed
because together their voices lifted
because all else didn’t make sense
because they could.
And others joined the circle
and they sang.
© Alicia Grimshaw 2020
Join me at the next song circle. Simply Singing Song Circle in Portland, Oregon with Carole Marie Downing
The River Knows – Poem by Ali Grimshaw
“I only went out for a walk, and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.”
– John Muir
In slowing my pace to lightly step
I saw the power of the hummingbird
defeating the odds again
to fly, even though science says it shouldn’t be able.
I leaned on the elder tree that stood through hurricanes.
Touched sprouts forcing through cracked concrete.
Studied a cactus with magenta bloom
in the desperate dry landscape.
Outside I found my mentors.
Along singing creek waters, trails of bright birdsong
and pausing in cliffside meadows where the ocean roars.
I heard the strength of the outside.
The river knows where it is going
and I will follow it.
© Alicia Grimshaw 2020
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
Temporary – Poem by Ali Grimshaw
Your phrases landed
on the floor between us.
I didn’t know how to catch them.
Your breathless words carried
a story of near miss.
One collection of minutes
that almost
restructured my life.
Like flower petals
blown away by the wind
altering forever
their attachment
to the stem.
Never again to unite in bloom’s beauty.
A reminder of
the impermanence of us.
© Alicia Grimshaw 2020 (Rewrite of a poem shared in 2017)
dVerse prompt – Poetics: Impermanence
Life in a suitcase
Their voices
Peeling memories away
layers of lives left littered
one packed suitcase
one hope
one chance
Back across the sea
buildings without occupancy
echoes through rooms
call them back home
Here they are
far from the familiar
family table and
some are missing
© Ali Grimshaw 2020
This poem was inspired by this article. Interview: Artists Rebuild Refugees’ Emotional Memories of “Home” Inside Suitcases By Jessica Stewart
“Working together with writer Ahmed Badr, architect and sculpture artist Mohamad Hafez listened to the stories of refugee families living in America and helped shine a light on their experiences. As two former refugees themselves—Hafez from Syria and Badr from Iraq—this is an issue close to their hearts. The result is Unpacked, an emotional multi-media installation where the voices of each family tell their experiences as viewers engage with an incredible scale model of the homes they’ve left behind.”
“Each model, created by Hafez, is packed into a suitcase as a symbol of the baggage these families carry forward into their new lives. As Hafez listened carefully during the interviews, which often ran six to seven hours, he was sketching what he heard. Using what he discovered, he was able to mold their memories into a visual representation that leaves no question about the dire circumstances these refugees faced.”
Unpacked will be on view at the University of Madison-Wisconsin – February 5, 2020 to March 15, 2020.
