Category: poetry

Six Word Story (107)

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What does the word intimacy stir within you? For each of us it’s probably quite different, and yet the same, with flashes of moments spent with lovers or dreams of the ones we wish had wandered into our lives to stay but didn’t. But is that what intimacy really is?

I have learned it is only a small scratch on this word’s surface.

Intimacy needs have nothing to do with physical love or desire at all. True intimacy between life partners goes much deeper than alone sex could ever take you, and often the intimacy of friendship is much healthier.

It’s something every human soul longs for at our core.

Reaching for it makes us vulnerable.

Vulnerability is terrifying, but without it, true intimacy can never be achieved.

Have you experienced true intimacy? Are you still looking for it?

I would love to hear anything about your experiences and thoughts about it in the comments below. It’s a topic I think a lot about.

Copyright ©2023 Mary Grace van der Kroef

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Self Controle

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To have control
or persevere?
Sometimes the difference isn’t clear.

Intertwined
as braided strands,
taking turns on who commands.

Stand in check,
Is this the way?
Will this, a bit of self betray?

Know the road,
make a goal,
continue on in self-control.

Or hold a line,
say not today,
anger will not have its prey.

Wisdom wields
both as a team,
for neither is the one supreme.

Copyright ©2023 Mary Grace van der Kroef

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Between the Lines/A Touch of Grace

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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.

Blind Ambitions Website
Randy Lacy Writer/Dreamer/Poet

Listen to the show on youtube, or find Blind Ampotions on your favourite podcast app.

Between the Lines Podcast Episode: A Touch of Grace, Host Randy Lacy, Guest Mary Grace van der Kroef

Six Word Story (105)

marygracewriting2 Comments

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

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Gentleness

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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

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Six Word Story (104)

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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

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Faithfulness

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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

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Six Word Story (103)

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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

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Goodness

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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

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Six Word Story (102)

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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

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