Ali Grimshaw

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A Mindful Vacation

Between each breath
one, maybe two seconds at most,
a tiny space of nothingness.
My passport can’t get me there.
Driving faster, running harder,
multitasking while eating lunch
working later, doing more…
no closer to my destination.

“Where would you like to travel to?” they ask.

someplace between
inhale
and exhale. 
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Seeking a Brain Transplant

Coveting the minds of others,
organized, tidy, following clear roads.
Traveling to a chosen destination
efficiently arriving on time.
Dreary, weary, defeat haunts her
relapsing into the darkness of a mind off course.
Moving toward an endless horizon
without a line between earth and sky
to distinguish
what hole she fell into
this time.
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Traversing Together

Head down, back bent,
climbing back into yourself
fear perspiring on your forehead.
Looks like you could use a lift.
Travel forward with me
I will steer for awhile.
You can coast.
I will pedal out the questions.
You can consider answers.
Life can be different
on a bicycle built for two.
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Axis Tilt

Could this be the final day
of an autumn that I thought would last?
A mellowing of red between us
once crackling emotions now dust bits
collected in a whirling dervish
carried away in the wind.
Now I am an empty street waiting
for the street light to click on.
Predictable and ever awed
by the chance
to begin again. 
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​Ali Grimshaw's profile

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Replay

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Before I walk away,
returning to a new season of my life,
let’s rewind this journey for one
last view. The thrills, near misses,
and countless conversations melted together,
making me the true color I have become.
Wherever I am
is your home
to come back to.
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Visiting with Chaos

Spills splattered the walls.
Counters filled with clutter,
multiple piles creating a new geography in the room.
There is a relief to cleaning it all away.
Everything in order. Repair and replace.
The seduction of a new cycle, sparkling clean.
Free from marks of history.

What if we could sit with Chaos
for just a little minute?
Feel the wind in our ears.
Hearing her secrets of cleverness.
Soaking in the learning of this undone space.
Before an opportunity is erased.
A past disinfected before she can author her story
From which the plot differs from
perpetual duplicating.
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A View from Above

Outside the window
traffic below creeping away from all that matters.
Amongst the jammed up colors,
a pedestrian easily weaves through the congestion
slipping through the heavy flow of life.
gracefully continuing on while surrounded by the unmoving,
often pausing to look up,
He alone sees the clouds above the tall buildings.
No one else remembers the sky.

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.

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