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
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. –
A literary magazine dedicated to showcasing the rhythms of mental health in individuals around the globe.
– Mental Rhythm Website –
They have featured my poem Disconnect in their first issue. I invite you all to read it along with the many other great works included.
It’s always a blessing to have a piece chosen out of the many submitted to each outlet. As a student run magazine, it’s also great to know my words are reaching young people in need of support.
I look forward to following them as a publication and supporting the students working behind the scene.
Mary Grace van der Kroef
I recently enjoyed having a conversation with Ada from Quip Corner, about my book ‘The Branch That I Am.’
I enjoyed our conversation and I hope you do as well!
Ada is the author of the 101 QUIPS AND QUOTES BOOK COLLECTION. for the last 2 years she has used her YouTube channel Quips Corner to promote other authors in celebration of World Book and Copy Write day. I know she would love to have you tune in for the rest of the month. Don’t forget to go back and watch the interviews from earlier in April.
Thank you Ada, for blessing me with this interview!
In the lonely places, in the in between, there is a light that stands witness.
©2022 Mary Grace van der Kroef
Photo sourced from Unsplash.com
7 Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
9 If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
12 even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.
Psalm 139: 7-12 English Standard Version
On BibleGateway.com
Like
a splinter in the foot
you just can’t seem to see,
is the pain within a heart
filled with
anxiety.
No one else can see
pain
that you now feel.
Often times you ask
if it’s even truly
real.
Walk about your day,
the prick
will stab with pain.
Balancing
the wound
becomes a dripping drain.
Energy is lost,
focus on protect.
Friendships
pays the cost,
when attention you
deflect.
How
to remove
a shard that can’t be seen?
First admit,
discard
pretending’s screen.
Allow
a probing look.
A gentle searching poke.
Trust
someone who knows,
this pain in not a joke.
Often
it may feel
like a bandage ripped away.
The sting,
it may endure
well into your day.
But,
pain of healing hands
is worth a season’s rest.
It’s a pain that’s bearable
when into tears it’s
pressed.
Gentle
words may pinch,
a tweezers searching bite.
And tears can wash away,
splinters
and their bite.
©2021 Mary Grace van der Kroef
‘Splinter,’ was originally published in Fahmidan Journal‘s Issue 6: Autoimmune & Mental Health Warriors. Page 10–11.
I don’t know God
like He knows me.
I glimpse His mercy
in every tree
that oozes air
so I can breathe,
and drops its fruits
that I might feed.
I don’t know God
Like he knows me.
So much of him
I can not see.
But whispers of
His harmony
linger in
the slightest breeze.
Weather wind
or breath set free,
this circle
Is a part of we.
Never from it
Can we flee,
wrapped in infinite
artistry.
I don’t know God
Like He knows me.
But I’m learning
to just be.
In the being
He sets us free
to hear His heart-
beat out the plea
to all of His humanity,
“Come,
get to know me.”
©2022 Mary Grace van der Kroef
Wandering
across the expanse.
A dance In speckled darkness.
Glass vessel
reflected glimmers.
Slivers of light refracted through
Translucency,
casting a luminous cloud.
Lighting particles once hidden,
transformed into ethereal wings.
Enabling,
a bottled prayer
to heaven cling.
Whispers,
winging higher than my dreams.
©2022 Mary Grace van der Kroef
Something she needed.
Gathering sticks with a clackity clack.
Something she knew.
A rake with handle true.
Something she loved.
Crisp, fresh air.
Something she did.
Feeding burn barrel natures spares.
Something she taught.
God loves you.
Something she chose.
The right voices for reading Oscar the Grouch.
Someone I will never forget.
Grandma.
©2022 Mary Grace van der Kroef
Reservoir of tears
aqueduct of word
release an angry flood
meaning becomes blurred
Bursting opened taps
short vessels made of clay
gushing on the floor
encasement to betray
Floorboards soaked expand
no longer toured with ease
watch out for lilting planks
slowing down our speed
Now in laboured love
mop and pail in hand
reserving wasted words
reclaiming tears unplanned
Together, as a pair
working, side by side
we’ll fix the broken pipes
turn off destructive tides
Buckets brimming full
water garden beds
washing grunge from panes
also grimy heads
Still important words
filled with precious tears
one ladle at a time
preserved for drought years
©2020 Mary Grace van der Kroef
“Reservoir of Tears” originally appeared in Issue II of the Kitchen Sink Magazine.
Mary Grace Writing 