This search for wholeness, an
unforgiving quest to find a
natural state in a world of
compromise, deceit, and fate.
My self, my view, my impulse
or intention too far beyond
what I am or have now.
Deep thoughts, a deeper longing
for an uncomfortable truth
mainly comprised of falsehoods.
What is behind this fragile shell?
What has it done to protect me?
04/29/2024 j.g.l.
More obvious than DNA, presence
or personality: identity. Individually,
names are given out by someone else,
by family or memory. Titles awarded
before character is developed,
without our knowledge.
A voice we live with. Should you
call out, what will you hear? A name:
in the end, all we are left with. Goodbye.
What you remember and often forget.
Introduction requires random thought
of specific examples.
Fingerprint fact and interpretation, a
name, birth date, statistics, history always
living proof of every step taken, up until
now. Evidence you are all you believe in,
selfish presentation of self-image, under
circumstances that change along with us.
Do you represent what others might think?
How well do they know you? Would you
be any different under any other name?
Will that person remain the same as you
if it were true? Hello. Ask yourself.
It is a hard title to live up to.
© 2021 j.g. lewis
sunlight navigates its way
between
what was and what
is still to come
friday
not just any day
you find the freedom
to notice
transformation happening
as it should
look up
will you see what you should
or observe
all you have neglected
04/26/2024 j.g.l.
I'm like a pencil;
sometimes sharp,
most days
well-rounded,
other times
dull or
occasionally
broken.
Still I write.
j.g. lewis
is a writer/photographer in Toronto.
By Lisette Kiene
I feel deep grief about “humans”, including myself.
I feel loss, I miss the human race.
I know these words are deep…
but where do we stand as humans?
I always have one sentence on my mind,
‘do not leave anyone behind’
I still haven’t figured out what exactly
the meaning is of that sentence.
Humanity knows many different faces, along the line of history.
We slowly devalued ourselves.
I struggled with it quite a while,
the skeptical way we look at each other, other people’s
expectations and judgments.
We choose comfort over curiousness, to feel safe
in a group or way of life.
Humanity… We don’t feel oneness anymore.
Whatever the reason or problems people may have,
we set up a life we didn’t really want.
We define ourselves by our past instead of thinking
who we are now.
It makes me sad when people escape reality… at the end
we can’t escape what could have been.
Maybe we forgot to reach out,
to say, I love you…
Above the pain, what is the structure of love?
Love is increasingly becoming a commercial machine,
through fear, through war, through hatred and loneliness.
It is taken away and then used again,
to divide humans and to keep control.
Without love we cannot call ourselves “human”… Love
becomes a drug and we take it eagerly.
At the expense of what?
Our freedom to be human is classified, sold and
programmed.
The concept of love is full of rules,
and we buy it… even literally. We believe it.
They say ‘it is for humanity’s own good’, to feel loved
again, worthy, to feel safe… to feel human.
Words are not innocent.
When are we free again?
If we want love in this world, we should give it away,
without obligation and regardless the situation our
fellow human beings are involved in.
We should learn to change, to trust ourselves,
to trust humanity…
and there lies my hope, instead of misery we could
also see the joy in each other.
They say ‘you have to love yourself first’
and that saddens me the most.
I know it’s maybe strange of me to say, to feel like that
but with the sentence ‘you have to love yourself first’,
we are divided to the core.
Maybe we must learn to love humanity first, by that
you will find love for yourself, essentially we are all
human beings.
I admit, I tried to ‘love myself first’ as well.
I ended up feeling lonely. It’s a lonely one way to meet
yourself as an individual.
Who are we as individuals?
Isn’t it true, at the core ”the individual” is a human being too?
There I found a thin line between self love and humanity.
We hardly know what it means to be human anymore,
by systematic oppression of races, societies, ideas,
religions and beliefs.
Pay attention to what’s going on in the world, your country,
what your government is doing, what is coming from
societies, businesses, companies, authorities.
How close are they to humanity?
We get confused by fear and pressure, fight to survive,
it’s a downward spiral.
What kind of perspective do we have as human beings?
I always have one sentence on my mind,
‘do not leave anyone behind.’
Maybe that sentence is the spark that we need… to find our way
back to humanity.
Look out into the world… give
’love above fear’
and perhaps we have more in common then we already know…
Someday humanity will find its place in the world,
without leaving anyone behind.
what would be our future reality?
Where do you stand?
© 2019 Lisette Kiene
Lisette Kiene lives in Gouda, The Netherlands,
is a graphic designer & owner of a Creative Soul.
She is a believer of an endless destination, naturally.
She transforms thoughts and whisperings into writing.
She follows her own melody.
I’m like a pencil;
sometimes sharp,
most days
well-rounded,
other times
dull or
occasionally
broken.
Still I write.
j.g. lewis
is a writer/photographer in Toronto.