Several months ago I had the privilege of being speaking with Randy Lacy, host of the Between the Lines podcast. Our episode recently aired and I am excited to share it here with all of you.
Randy is a great encouragement to literature of all kinds in Canada and elsewhere. Please visit his website and to more episodes with other great poets and writers. Don’t forget to subscribe to Randy’s channels.
Listen to the show on youtube, or find Blind Ampotions on your favourite podcast app.
I was given my first pair of glasses at the age of 5. They were purple, and the temple tips were made to wrap around a child’s ear and help hold them in place.
I also remember those first few weeks of using them. They were heavy, the strain hurt my eyes, and I didn’t like them.
But whether or not I liked them, I needed them. Soon I realized I didn’t have to squint all the time, and once I was used to the weight and the focus, my eyes hurt less than before I got them.
I couldn’t read yet but now I could SEE the words on a page and the letters that made them up, but only if I wore those glasses and chose to focus.
There is bounty in focus. But most of the time, it doesn’t come naturally, you have to learn it and chose it.
Copyright ©2023 Mary Grace van der Kroef
Photo sourced from unsplash.com
Whispers that linger
in the cup of hand to heart.
Feathers that flutter
on words that lilt and dart.
Leaving presence behind like art.
Strength that guards
in silken threads of web.
Holding back sharp edges
with softest flow and ebb,
minding what is said.
Unrelenting,
unmovable gentleness.
How can one possess
this uncommonness,
that embodies love’s caress?
Copyright ©2023 Mary Grace van der Kroef
Sometimes that last piece of the puzzle is elusive, hiding in the weirdest of places, or managing to crawl into the smallest crevice.
But sometimes, you’re just sitting on it. So get up and look!
But just in case you’re not sitting on it doesn’t rush the prosses of searching.
Sometimes it’s not a puzzle piece we are missing, but something more important.
Patience,
Faith,
Hope,
These things get lost too.
It still takes a pause, a think, and even a prayer, to find them again.
Don’t forget to take that time, and when it’s most challenging, bring a second set of eyes into the search.
Friends are worth more than gold.
Copyright ©2023 Mary Grace van der Kroef
Photo sourced from unsplash.com
To be a constant
unwavering mass
To last
To hold knowledge
open handed
honestly
To choose a path
and follow through
thoroughly
Never giving up
Never backing down
faithfully
Copyright ©2023 Mary Grace van der Kroef
Safety is something we all look for and when we find it we hold on with abandon. But is safety always, safe? Too quickly it can become complacency and compliance becomes stagnant, eating away at us as below, rotting our foundations.
What protects can become a cage if we are not careful.
What preserves that balance?
The knowledge that sometimes it’s better to let go than to hold on. Vigilance, and an open ear, waiting for the words.
“It’s time to move.”
I don’t always hear them on time, often I even ignore them.
Do you?
Copyright ©2023 Mary Grace van der Kroef
Photo sourced from unsplash.com
Goodness done, spreads out like flowing water, touching lives in ripples, gentle waves.
Goodness withheld is missed like a blown kiss, or forgotten rains.
Goodness, action or being? God gives no man this name.
Yet we can walk the path he paved and read each stone footprints engraved
with Goodness spelling out his love, in actions pure, true. Feel the marks he left behind, a map of Kindness for man’s use.
Be it under tumultuous waves, or across a barren earth. May bared feet find Goodness sweet, though blinded, deaf and mute.
Feeling for the good embrace of imprints sacred bed. Walking in His footsteps, know by His Goodness we’re fed.
So sending out His ripples as we slosh through days and nights. Touching countless others with waves of gentle might.
Copyright ©2023 Mary Grace van der Kroef
Goodness saw publication at Agape Review on august 21st, 2021
I have an intimate understanding of winter.
I have felt the bite of -45 temperatures, the grind of shovelling mountains of snow, the loneliness of dark gray days.
I am thankful for each of these things.
Winter goes with its dangers, but so does summer.
Just as the sun of summer holds a blessing, so does the blanket of winter.
Without an adequate snowfall in Northern Canada, wildfire season rages in the summer.
Copyright ©2023 Mary Grace van der Kroef
Photo sourced from unsplash.com
Available Titles by Mary
This week I am celebrating breaking even on the publishing costs for my Words of Weight Poetry collection. SO, I have decided to offer all of you this collection for FREE for a limited time.
This collection is only available in ebook from Amazon at this time, and right now you can pick it up for free or read it with Kindle unlimited.
Thank you for celebrating with me. ENJOY!
A single act
word
or gesture.
The power to propel
guard
or gather.
Embodies compassion,
making it action.
A smile
or nod,
unexpected applaud.
Really seeing,
being
present.
Kindness
is mindful,
refuses to stifle
when it can’t understand.
Knows God’s hand
has the end
planned.
Copyright ©2023 Mary Grace van der Kroef
Available titles by Mary Grace van der Kroef
Mary Grace Writing 