If light didn’t exist, the universe as we know it would be very different.
With out it we wouldn’t know what darkness is, or vegetation, or warmth.
Light is a beautiful thing, sometimes searingly so.
The light of the sun can burn human eyes if we look directly at it, yet we need it. It shows us things that, in darkness, go unnoticed. It reveals.
Light is a sister to Truth.
©2021 Mary Grace van der Kroef
Photo sourced from unsplash.com
©2021 Mary Grace van der Kroef
When you find the right home for a story, it’s always a blessing. I struggled to find a home for my story ‘Fireflies of Red and Blue’. Many editors had great things to say about it, but ultimately it was never quite the right fit for their magazine. That is, until I submitted to Honeyguide. It thrilled me to get an acceptance from them and I true believe their magazine is the perfect home for this story.
“I wanted a magazine that examined the intersects between the human and animal experience, how one fed into the other, and although we are very different, our lives, questions, struggles, hopes and fears are very often the same.”
Amanda Marrero
Chief Editor – From Honeyguide Magazine About Page
‘Fireflies of Red and Blue’ is a story of grief and love between a dog and her human companions.
I encourage you all to visit Honeyguide Magazine’s website and check out their sister magazines, The Field Guide Poetry Magazine and Parakeet Magazine.
You can now read ‘Fireflies of Red and Blue‘ online, or purchase an individual digital or print copy of Issue 3.
Thank you!
Mary Grace van der Kroef
Wriggle
It creeps upon the leaf
Tinny furry creature
eat at peace
Then appears a second
A third
to crunch and munch
Soon a hoard of creepers
Making leaves contented lunch
Once a glowing beauty
Stripped
of gilded filigree
Weaving wreathing nests
Across a naked frame
Living drips
Her ravaged beauty
Proclaim
Waiting through the darkness
Chrysalis
of change
Until upon her skeleton
wings they all display
Watch
the bared darling
Don a gown of brown
Trimmed
with greying fur
Moths become her crown
©2021 Mary Grace van der Kroef
Earth is home to many cycles. The water cycle, the air cycle, the earth cycle are among them. Systemes created to build, break down, reuse, and rebuild.
All of that grinding, melting, molding, fusing, is science’s magic of making one thing into another. While it all follows a pattern, it all looks like chaos. Such is life. Trust the pattern. I trust the one who invented that pattern.
©2021 Mary Grace van der Kroef
Photo sourced from unsplash.com
In a moment
With a motion
Snapping fingers
Holding time
Hear a song
Slip away
Into a world
Of the sublime
Ask no questions
Of the quiet
In between
The rhythm snap
Let it’s pull
Feed the wonder
Giving answers
Meters map
Comes an ending
To the journey
Settle back
Into the skin
Taking with you
Shards of heaven
Memories
A dreamers inn
©2021 Mary Grace van der Kroef
The spending of time is not something we have a choice of. We all do it every moment of our breathing lives.
Like the count of seconds ticking away in a parking meter, we can not transfer them to another payment method once we have decided where to spend them.
But unlike a parking meter, time leaves us with bits and pieces we can sort through. Memories as lessons and discoveries. We could discard them, and lose bits of ourselves, or take those small pieces and repurpose them throughout our loves. Even the sharp, painfulness ones have a use.
Treasure them.
©2021 Mary Grace van der Kroef
Photo sourced from unsplash.com
Living Branch is my first watercolor design, now available at my Redbubble Shop.
Original watercolor painting on watercolor paper.
I was told last year that watercolor is great for creating book covers. So after receiving a small set from my husband for Christmas, I set about learning how to use them. I am still very much a beginner, but I am so proud of this accomplishment that I have to share it with the world.
The blues and greens of this piece just make me happy. It feels alive and full of hope, though to some the tree itself might seem stark and strange.
Inspiration for the arm like branch came from two poems from my forthcoming chapbook THE BRANCH THAT I AM, now available for preorder.
In the poems ‘Rooted Deep,’ and ‘The Branch,’ I liken myself to a tree. In one I am planted by streams of living water, and the other, I fall away and am taken on an unexpected journey of renewal.
I hope you all look at the great products this design is available on. All proceeds go towards publication costs and website upkeep. Thank you.
Mary Grace van der Kroef
Mary Grace Writing 