We tire of unpredictable weather, the damp morning chill, wet socks and lost mittens. Winter keeps reminding it is not through with us.
We have suffered long enough.
The streets are tired and dirty and the time change only makes things darker in the morning.
We need a brighter view.
We need, now, the renewal that comes with spring.
03/20/2023 j.g.l.
Progress comes less from planning than participation.
Dreams and wishes require action and attention.
Start moving.
03/19/2023 j.g.l.
If we wait too long
for the stars to align, for
some kind of hope, or
some kind of sign,
if we let our lives hang on
still-bated breath, we will
forever wonder
what is still to come
or what we have left. If we
don’t own the moments,
or make them our own,
will we ever feel like
we’ve made our way home?
If we can’t be honest
with others, and especially
our selves,
can we ever explain why
or how
we once felt?
If we wait too long, it
may never arrive.
Stop waiting,
start doing,
start feeling alive.
© 2016 j.g. lewis
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.
My daughter sent me a handful of my old records this week and in the bunch was Innervisions: Stevie Wonder’s 1973 Grammy-winning Album of the Year.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve listened to the album, though I did often. Innervisions was one of a few 8-track tapes that came with us on a week long ski trip in 1977. It’s one of those few albums you could listen to over and over and never tire of. It was a record I bought immediately when I returned home from the trip..
It is that kind of an album.
You can talk about Wonder’s musical genius and ability to play all of the instruments on most of the album, but lyrically Innervisions went to a new level. Wonder got political, questioning religion and his country’s leader and culture.
The socially conscious words on songs like He’s Mista Know-It-All, Jesus Children of America and Higher Ground made you think. Living For The City speaks to the systemic racism that existed then as it does now.
Almost 50 years later, nothing much has changed.
The album might even sound better now.
06/14/2020 j.g.l.
