You are a blue sky.
A color that I love to get lost in.
A consistent and ever-changing
backdrop for others,
and stand alone marvel.
Sometimes filled with challenging clouds
opening my eyes
to visions of blue
I’ve not seen.
© Ali Grimshaw
Reflection
writing
Nurturing a Color
In fading light,
glowing colors blend
and it is impossible to tell
where one begins. So it is
with you and I. When did I begin on my own?
So many years you nurtured and cooked, rocked,
encouraged, and cared for me while fighting for yourself.
As we unblended and became our separate colors, lessons were learned.
What was said and what was left empty in the room for me to choose.
The boundary of where you stood, lines I sometimes crossed.
In the mirror of the years I am in awe of your effort.
You gave, at minimum, years of listening
with your whole face turned toward mine.
Intent on taking each word in
not letting a single one
escape your ear.
Mother’s Day 2016 – Dedicated to my mother and her commitment to keeping her colors vibrant while letting me find my own.
© Ali Grimshaw 2016
Air
Oxygen continues to enter,
passing straight through fear.
Love will continue to breath for you,
when you cannot breath for yourself.
© Ali Grimshaw
Persistence
The strength you possess
growing just where you landed
nourished by sparse light
no gardener to tend you
pushing through the cracks
away from your roots
toward warmth of another
to be seen.
© Ali Grimshaw
Free Yourself
Cut yourself free
from the weight of all not forgiven
a constricting of vitality, past failures squeeze
the tangle of rope, disallows a full breath.
Each memory binds, an internal tightening
of a time you did not stop it,
didn’t stand up tall for yourself.
Patterns of knots encircle your being.
Twisted, wound round, strangled voice.
If you would have been smarter, stronger, better …
If only you had been more.
© Ali Grimshaw Revised 2018
Night Bloom
In the dark night raining.
Each flower drinks in,
readying itself for dawn.
With no eyes to witness,
the gentle petals imbibe.
A secret kept to themselves.
© Ali Grimshaw 2016
Message In The Clouds
Let me send my love to you
lightly floating on the wind.
A force that sails ships across the ocean.
Let my kisses evaporate into the clouds.
When they reach your shore,
love will rain down upon you.
© Ali Grimshaw
Falling
The falling rain washing clean the road,
pooling for the birds,
freeing the leaves.
These many drops,
falling like the sky wants to share,
a blessing for so many.
Looking at my upturned face,
you wonder why I yearn for dark clouds to let loose.
Pouring forth all they have been holding.
The sky’s release streams down my head, my cheeks.
A trickle drips from my nose tip.
The storm and I let this wind blow through.
The raindrops hiding,
what you will never know,
are tears on my face.
© Ali Grimshaw
The Answer
Now is not the time for tomorrow’s thinking.
Living for when I get there and happiness lands.
Someday solutions for formulaic bliss.
A machine of future making.
Now, is life.
Remove the heavy hat of suffering.
Hang up the wool coat that has been passed down to you.
Slip off the leaden shoes denying your right to skip.
Let your toes feel the mud between them.
Hear the sounds in this space.
Just be,
be your own answer.
© Ali Grimshaw
While You Were Away
While you were away,
my heart expanded,
exploring new pathways,
journeying inside and out.
My life has grown
and yet I have not lost you.
We are still holding the
same thread,
forever woven,
into both of our hearts.
You never left.
while you were away.
© Ali Grimshaw
Dedicated to my dear friend Kirsten Schwabel and with gratitude to Neha’s blog Forgottenmeadows.
flashlight batteries - Ali Grimshaw 