Mythos & Marginalia

life notes; flaws and all

j.g. lewis

original content and images ©j.g. lewis

a daily breath...

A thought du jour, my daily breath includes collected and conceived observations, questions of life, fortune cookie philosophies, reminders, messages of peace and simplicity, unsolicited advice, inspirations, quotes and words that got me thinking. They may get you thinking too . . .

pocket poem 2024

                 Current Thoughts

           Open your mouth, let words
   bypass lips. Converse consciously
   to brethren or bystanders.
       Reach out to
   close friends gone amiss.
       Be not afraid, not now, of
   articulating current thoughts and
   accomplishments of which
   you are proud, and even your sins
   (for we have all owned a few)
        might seem far less tragic
         from an altered point of view.
               Give fresh voice
   to insecurities and anxieties hidden
   within your self, speak highly of
      those dusty dreams
            languishing on a shelf.
   Past sullen moments cast a
   lengthy shadow, short-term
   expectations tend to dull down
   long-term possibilities.
      Talk freely around all you want,
   or hope, or desire to be.
      Each intention will resonate
      with those who wholly believe.
   Understanding takes effort.

© 2024 j.g. lewis

April 18th is Poem in Your Pocket Day
a day to celebrate poetry by selecting a poem,
carrying it in your pocket, and sharing with the
friends and strangers who cross your path.
Share a poem wherever the day takes you, as you
would share a smile, a gesture, or your kindness.
Sharing is caring.

April is Poetry Month
take a poem to lunch

cloud songs

        Our paths shift, circumstance and
              attitude shaping our trajectory.
   The company we keep alters both
       our outlook and destination.
           We are where we are
        mainly because of who we are 
                          and whom we are with.

 

04/16/2024                                                                              j.g.l.

Mondays are just young Fridays

A wish for words more delicate and 
refined will only lead to
an unnecessary edit, constrained curiosity,
and a smudge of indifference.
Emotions scoured from the page,
its patina reflective now of a chaotic mind, 
you are no longer (or never have been) 
satisfied with what is there.
Speaking freely, nowhere near the truth, 
a humane reaction may not be soothed.
Not always. No matter what.
No longer plain and simple. Perhaps
it never was?
You question the questions.
The flaws in your self can only add up
to a greater expression of your being.

04/15/2024                                                                                       j.g.l.

 

April is Poetry Month
flaws and all

 

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.

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Love Above Fear

Posted on January 18, 2019 by j.g.lewis Leave a comment

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.

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