Closed Shutters

May 28, 2017August 23, 2019 ~ 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

What is the cost of waiting?

April 20, 2017April 20, 2017 ~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 7 Comments

Enlight6

“In spite of the flames of tragedy, a poem is a glowing ember, making visible the power of hope, and the human spirit. We must not only read and watch, we are called by the poet to bring the flame back to the ember, to do what we can to help people not only to survive, but to thrive.” – Why Poetry Matters from Huffington Post

Opening Up

April 17, 2017April 1, 2018 ~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 13 Comments

Under the tree, sitting

knee to knee while

randomly, snow petals

drift down between us.

‘How can we begin again?

After all, I don’t trust.

I have forgotten how, or…

maybe I never knew.’

While branches above blossom yearly

growth regardless of weather.

‘I guess the question is,

how badly do I

want to blossom?’

“Poetry is the journal of the sea animal living on land, wanting to fly in the air. Poetry is a search for syllables to shoot at the barriers of the unknown and the unknowable. Poetry is a phantom script telling how rainbows are made and why they go away.” — Carl Sandburg, from The Atlantic, March 1923.

The Reflection of Grace

April 15, 2017June 9, 2020 ~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 28 Comments

What you will not forgive in others

a mirror for what you cannot forgive

in yourself.

Hold the mirror before your face

cracked, distorted by times

of perceived failure, harsh voices.

Look

and look some more,

until you see the darkness of yourself.

Then step through,

step through the reflection to the other,

the other side where

you are him

you are her

you are they

you are no different.

In the mirror two eyes plead

for grace.

This poem is inspired by the amazingly loving Debbie. Her blog Forgiving Connects offers opportunities to reflect on forgiveness and learn from the experiences of others. Thank you Debbie. Forgiving Fridays on Forgiving Connects

Inclusive Framework

April 13, 2017April 14, 2017 ~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 4 Comments

On the Edge

April 7, 2017April 7, 2017 ~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 21 Comments

According to her internal judge

she was never quite up to par,

even when she crossed the finish line first

she couldn’t own the accomplishment. Always

on the outside of the window, looking in.

Perplexed by separation. She wanted to belong,

and never wanted to fit in,

knew it would change her.

A part broken off to forever float away.

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.

In response to The Daily Post – Outlier

Each Morning

April 5, 2017April 5, 2017 ~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 9 Comments

“The best poetry has a magical quality—a sense of being more than the sum of its parts—and even when it’s impossible to articulate this sense, this something more, the power of the poem is left undiminished.” – How to Read a Poem from Poets.org

Happy National Poetry Month 2017