Month: May 2022

Creamy New

marygracewriting4 Comments

The statue’s skin was creamy white. It spoke of new thoughts, ideas, and beliefs.

The cracks already forming around elbows, wrists and ankles revealed cheapness. Good intentions hurried, ignoring minuscule weaknesses.

The bird crap on shoulders reminded, nature will have its way. When the first hand crumbled, a raven laughed.

©2022 Mary Grace van der Kroef

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Six Word Story (69)

marygracewriting7 Comments

Who?

Why?

There is always a reason someone turns on the lights, strikes a match, or opens shutters. It takes intention.

The effects of that one action go beyond the single act and affect everyone who inhabits the darkness. be them human, bug, or bacteria.

Light, and the act of lighting. Such small things, such large changes.

©2022 Mary Grace van der Kroef

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Stone Driveway

marygracewriting2 Comments

I would test the line
With a toe.
Were the rocks really as sharp as I remembered?
Would they bite as deep as last time?
A deep breath, a dive.
Move fast,
Perhaps it won’t hurt as much this time.

Then,
The coolness of grass.
A softness, refreshing, soothing bruised skin.
Until I was called to cross again.

©2022 Mary Grace van der Kroef

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Six Word Story (68)

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Logic, the container that lets you place all your emotions in order. Alone logic is neat but empty. It can explain, but lacks the warmth and meaning that makes life worthwhile.

Emotions without a holder, they roll around and make a mess at our feet. But they are a healthy staple and give our life spark, and sustaining energy.

None is better than the other. Neither is perfect in its understanding of reality. The ability to understand how they fit together? That is power.

I believe they were created to be partners within the human experience. What do you think?

©2022 Mary Grace van der Kroef

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He Names Me

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Who am I?
The one that you see?
What she thinks of me?
All they note?
Or the thing he missed?

Who?

Guilty
That I forgot
Lost in the mess
Of others’ thoughts
Spewed at my feet

Why?

Untranslatable
From one mind to another
Labeled with others
Experiences
Self perceptions that tell lies

Where?

Is the truth of me
In this ever shifting nexus
Is it written down
In His book of days?
Was I

Planted

A vine that climes
Grabbing hold of His
Provisions
Both free and confined
To grow along the trellis of

His cross

When I reach the top
Will I know?
Intertwined and grounded
By Him, with Him,
I am for Him

Upheld

Blooming in my seasons
Existing, a separate being
Singleness, within the
Universe’s Whomb
Bearing fruits as He names me

Loved

©2022 Mary Grace van der Kroef

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Covid Verses/Paddler Press

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The Covid Verses

Featuring 30 poems written during the global pandemic, this eclectic collection from international authors shares the humour, the frustrations, the loves, and the loss that we all have experienced.

– Paddler Press

I love it when an editor brings writers together and creates something special. I believe that is what Deryck Robertson has done with The Covid Verses. My poem Starving Overtime has graciously included in this collection that stands a testament to the world’s shared grief, pain, and fear. It may have been a dark two years for many, but it’s not a time we should forget, lest we fail to learn from our experiences.

This collaborative chapbook is available in print from Paddler Press. Please consider picking up your own copy to support this great Canadian Small Press.

Mary Grace van der Kroef

Six Word Story (67)

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Once, when I was little, I asked my dad what had happened to the forest as we drove through the Northwestern Ontario wilderness. The trees looked ugly and sad. Dead black things standing in silent testament to what once was.

Did you know that the black earth hides life? All we see is destruction, but the earth knows it as time to renew.

“The forest will grow back full of new life and food for the animals to eat.” Dad told me.

It can be the same with people. Don’t look at your burn out plots as lost. See them as places to grow new love.

©2022 Mary Grace van der Kroef

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Keep Lit

marygracewriting21 Comments

He didn’t say
we wouldn’t weep while we waited.
He didn’t say
feeding the lantern’s flame,
wouldn’t singe.
He didn’t promise,
finding oil would be easy.
Only “Be ready,”
and the Spirit will with you sit.

©2022 Mary Grace van der Kroef

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‘Omnipresent’ and ‘Things Made’/Heart of Flesh Literary Journal

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I have been waiting with great anticipation to be able to share this publication. Heart of Flesh Literary journal is a publication I have been following since the beginning of my writing career, and they have been a dream publication for me.

This last week Issue Seven went live! My poems “Omnipresent” and “Things Made” have been included in this issue and I pray they bless you. They are available to read for free, accompanied by audio readings.

Print copies are available for purchase if you wish to support the Heart of Flesh Literary Journal.

Mary Grace van der Kroed

– Feature art by Veronica McDonald, Heart of Flesh Literary Magazine. –

Six Word Story (66)

marygracewriting3 Comments

Is it the flower, or the old car that is sad?

Perhaps they weep for each other as brothers in this world where all things have a beginning and an end.

©2022 Mary Grace van der Kroef

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