Written by Grimes

Breathing deeply, And perhaps for the first time in a long while, calmly. Encouraged by bird songs, lifted high On a southeastern breeze, I lift my head towards an azure sky. Clouds, fluffy and layered, are placed far out on the water A demarcation point, framing a familiar horizon Closer inland, where I sit in quiet contemplation, they are whisps – The errant meringue of an artist’s…

It is unfeeling Unseeing It's meant to feed To cannibalize everything in it's pathWe pet it Say please and thank you Personifiy it in the naive hope it won't turn on us Truth is, if it could feel, it would despise us Gaze upon us with open contemptIn response to our placation It sups on our flesh Unleashed and dependant upon our pacification It's straw dips ever deeper to our collective marrow…

Everything I was, and am, and will beTightly wound together Until one is imperceptible from the next The whole of me The densely packed multiplicity of meA single thread Travelling through time and space as oneEach lesson, each moment, each breathA new layer Catch a corner as I navigate, I bend Too many, and I begin to frayYet, the core of me remains The learned layers Strong enough to bear the…

Lately I’ve been feeling a bit disconnected and I just didn’t know what to do about that. Well, that’s not entirely true. If you’ve spent any time with me you would know that my first instinct is usually to go to home base and breathe deep. So I did. Lakeview Park, Oshawa ON I packed my notebook and a novel in my bag, hopped in the car, and drove to Lakeview Park. When I stepped out of the…

Thrust back into the darkness We search inky nothing Desperate for the sunOnly to be placated with lampsBlinking in the distance Exhausted and confused Having only just been able to recede Forced to gather themselves To step in where man has snubbed natureAnd a bewildered populace Struggles to raise their weary heads

In these last few hours of 2025, I hope you can look back with kindness and pride at your growth. Every moment – especially the hard ones – have brought you to this place and have made you who you are today. This year brought challenges and joy in both my professional life and my personal life, and as I prepare to close the chapter on this year, I am proud of my accomplishments. I had a busy…

Conversations with the people of Oshawa. Man, I love my hometown. 🥰 Warts and all.

Two women sit across from one another in an ER waiting room. Meeting again in a sad, but familiar place Both amid heart-rending lossHow everyday their conversation seemed. The matter of fact tone – itself lamentable – reminds us that, women, in one way or another, are trained from birth to control their emotions.For outbursts get you labelledAnd credibility is not afforded to the…

I am terrible at marking milestones. Just awful. In general, but specifically, my milestones. It may be due to a deep-seated disdain I have of self-aggrandizing, and it seems my brain refuses to make the distinction between braggart behaviour and the simple, public acknowledgement of an achievement. Anywho, let’s get this out while my brain is distracted. As I sat quietly on the train the…

My morning commute read today is the new release from Chalkboard Publishing! 😁This middle grade anthology is chock-full of stories to delight and entertain!My story is called Joey’s Not a Basketball Pro. If you’re anything like me and decidedly not the athletic one of the family, you just might enjoy it! 😄10 stories from 10 different authors… You Never Know What You’re Going To Get!A giant thank…

The start of Quips & Quills Bookshop’s Farmers’ Market season is tomorrow! We have a number of market dates this season, and we will be traveling around the Durham Region and to other regions like rural Hamilton area and Windsor-Essex county. We are excited to have a home base at North Oshawa Farmers’ Market, and […] Market Season Opening Day! Come see me when we are out and about, and pick up a…

I am far from knowledgeable about the ins and outs of traditional publishing, but I have learned a thing or two. I have learned there can be real joy in letting go of the process. Having self published 7 books, I am pretty familiar with the highs and lows of that world. The writing and editing, of course, but also, cover design, formatting, decisions regarding trim size, texture, weight, and…

My second poetry and prose collection is available today! It is an intimate, personal compilation which contemplates the ideas and ideals surrounding love, sacrifice, loss, and healing. This collection gives space for you, the reader, to engage with your own reflections and to sit with the words, allowing them to lead you wherever they will. I will have copies at the markets this year, so come…

Today is my birthday, and I am grateful for another trip around the sun. Last year saw a new path being forged with the expansion of my writing life making room for the retail side of the publishing game with the opening of the pop-up shop Quips & Quills Bookshop.  This year Quips & Quills Bookshop has a full time home at the North Oshawa Farmers’ Market from May to October, with lots of other…

One year ago today, I was sitting in the Morgan Firestone Community Centre waiting for Kevin to finish his first charity ride of the 2024 season – the notorious gravel race, Paris 2 Ancaster. While I was waiting, I wandered back and forth to the car, took a leisurely walk around the grounds, and eventually found myself settled in the atrium, where I sat, overlooking an empty ice rink, staring at…

I took a turn around some familiar halls. A spin around the old and the new. New walls, fresh paint. What was once wide, now narrow; once open, now closed. I returned to some place I knew. A place I thought I knew. A place where I laughed, I wept, I fought, and I loved. Down this hall and that A place where I was comforted and scolded, challenged and moulded. I was a stranger holding the…