What Grace Means to Me

[Barikisu Omar]

‘What Grace means to me by Scott Hughes’
That poem is really awesome and motivating.
I really love it

[Jaine Marie]

"To be confident, without being arrogant" implies to the fact that you can be confident without being cocky about it ,rather viewing yourself in a positive way♡

[Gillian Nolan]

It’s brilliant and all about balance.

[Angel Taguinin]

To do without trying is hard. This poem gives me some realization about life.

[Ty Cody]

The message was well received and very concise. I don't know if I've ever truly felt grace myself, but now I know what I need to look for. Thank you for sharing this piece with us. I know I needed it at this exact point in my life. I saw someone else say they were at rock bottom. I've been at rock bottome three times before. This time I actually got to find the hidden door to the basement of rock bottom. I was not aware that I could get any lower, and this actually made me hope there was a way out of this again. The true self comment really spoke to me. Thank you.

[str Angel]

This is a nice piece..i can also relate to most of the lines, especially this.."to love and forgive unconditionally, but only trust intelligently".
This literally means being able to love and forgive others without expecting anything in return or holding grudges, but when it comes to trusting others, be cautious and trust only those who have proven themselves trustworthy through their actions.

[Danielle chicoine]

A very thought- provoking piece for sure! I like the actual physical layout of the poem; how you chose to write each line as an independent stanza almost, with most of the lines representing an “either/or” choice. I like how you use each line to represent a dichotomy between two opposing “forces,” or choices we as individuals face in life. Because most lines represent almost like a choice or a contrasting ideal, it really conveys the message that your title, “What Grace Means to Me,” seems to convey. I think most of the individual lines read as a blueprint of how to live life as a “graceful” person in your opinion. I agree with most of your lines in this regard!
However, I was a little confused by the following lines:
“To be alive, but not discontent.
To be content, but not dead.”
While I can appreciate the poetic natural way the lines play off each other, “not discontent… to be content,” “alive... not dead…” they don’t really make much sense literally. I understand how being alive and not discontent would be a graceful way to live, but I don’t see how being content has anything to do with not being dead, or how those two ideals relate like the other lines in the poem?

Also, in congruence with the style and tone of the rest of the poem, I don’t really understand these lines either:
“To live as a mortal human, without becoming only human.
To treat your flesh as your temple, but not your true self.”
Again, while I like the word play and continuity of mortal human… only human,” I don’t understand what that means. How does one live as a “mortal” human, when mortal literally means “of a living human being” but then do so “without becoming only human?” This just seems like an impossible contradiction.
Also, and I think I saw a few other comments regarding this as well, but what does it mean to “treat your flesh as your temple but not your true self”? Again, I like how you remain consistent throughout the poem in terms of format and using each line to illustrate a dichotomy between two otherwise different things, however this specific line doesn’t really make sense. What does “your true self” mean, and how can we avoid treating our bodies as such?
I think the reference to treating your “flesh as your temple” is an homage to the idea of taking care of your health physically and literally, which again I agree is an important aspect of living a graceful life! I am just stuck on the second part of the line, the “not your true self” sequence. In keeping with the form of your poem, this part would be consistent with the opposite idea or opposing force to the first part of the line, but I’m not seeing the connection here!
Overall, though, I think your poem is well thought out and truly does represent a myriad of forces or choices we as individuals can make in order to have grace in our lives. I really love the format of your poem, and how you use each line to represent the dichotomy between two opposing ideas/forces/choices we in life can make. I like how the title you chose really gives us insight into what the poem is essentially all about at its core. Well done; thank you for sharing this poem with us!

[Letanya Ullbricht 1]

Beautifully expressed.
Grace means something different to everyone, but you summed it all up, which now makes it's meaning so incredible for everyone

[Chioma Chima]

A balanced piece, I must say. Thank you for this.

[Sheri Zipse]

I enjoyed this very much. Every line spoke to me. It’s very deep yet anyone can relate.

[shree joshi]

I loved this poem. It has effortless description of balance we need in this life. The last line "To choose to turn your life around before it is too late and there is no life left to turn around." Really spoke to me. Amazing thought process

[Pamela Syck]

This was an interesting poem. I guess it is about being satisfied with our lives. That is the only way way we have true happiness.

[naledi dlamini]

"To choose to turn your life around before it is too late and there is no life left to turn around."
This part was eye opening for me .I enjoyed this beautiful poem ,it is personal, deep and reflective in terms of my action or reaction towards life . The poem gives us a different view on what grace is and guidelines on how you react towards life ,people,daily tribulations . I love the word play but I got confused on the "to live as mortal human not just only human". I feel like to me it mean to live your life to the fullest and be your glamorous self ,dont hold back to fit other people perception on how you should be .but all in all it is a thought provoking piece .thank you for sharing.

[Zorodzai Makwena]

To achieve what you call your own but not boastful.
Those are beautiful lines and its grace all around the lines.Superb!

[Syed Abdullah 9]

"To be confident but not arrogant ". arrogance is a very dangerous problem as it makes us satisfied but leads to larger problems