Without Wings
Poetry
The Aha
Once balanced on their ends
the squares fall, one nudging the other.
A tumbling of memories,
replaying like a film made from still pictures.
held together by a plot that used to make sense.
Now I hold a new appreciation for the structure
that held them in place for years. The straining sides
that were keeping order, now dissolved,
layers becoming a ferris wheel of change
arriving as a new shape on the floor.
© Ali Grimshaw
Embrace the Struggle
Strength Training
Today
I possess the power
to return your judgemental gaze
with full ownership of who I am.
“Yes, this is me.”
A me of mistakes,
fearless learning,
repeated crashing and rising,
heart wide open
scars and wounds visible
capable of the unimaginable
love of Herculean strength.
I won’t ever fit in your box.
I am my own coloring book.
© Ali Grimshaw
Shades of Gray
Between the light and dark lie many shades of gray,
easily misunderstood by those not interested
in searching the sky for shapes.
With curiosity comes an acceptance of the continuum
from silver ash to smokey midnight.
Shades that vary only by a brushstroke of ink,
yet change a life in ways that can never be turned back.
The dark that challenges us to grow
and pushes the fearful through the door.
The light that illuminates
on the other side.
© Ali Grimshaw
Hold The Light
Years of Isolation
A need for self protection
more fierce, more essential
than life itself.
The consuming energy of keeping her heart safe.
The waning strength to keep the walls fortified.
To give without receiving.
To live without wanting
A game of survival that she only knew
how to play alone.
© Ali Grimshaw
Lay down your struggle.
Remembering …
I miss the days of your eyes
a yearning treasure seeker
when I was the X on your map.
© Ali Grimshaw
Choosing
You chose me
when I couldn’t choose myself.
When I was swimming in darkness,
awash in ink,
blocking out the love.
You remained beside me
when my words didn’t make sense.
You stayed. Listening.
Seeing who I would become
and already was in the moment.
You opened up a new vista
where we stood together,
our backs to the past.
© Ali Grimshaw
flashlight batteries - Ali Grimshaw 