You wander.
We all do.
Uncertainty can often
blur your surroundings.
Unclear.
The map is always there,
the lines signify the path
you need to follow.
You simply have to find
the direction.
It is all in your hands.
© 2017 j.g. lewis
unclear
gr@ffiti
Anguish or confusion,
sometimes it is the way.
Anxiety takes over.
What else can you say
as you try to put aside all
the feelings that dog you
anyway. No pain today.
Try as you might to
see your way through.
No pain. Not today.
09/14/2023 j.g.l.
Mondays are just young Fridays
There is very little that can be said about Eric Clapton that hasn’t already been said; except I saw him last night.
I’ve been listening to the musician, in all stages of his career, over the past five decades and he has been around even longer than that.
Through the years I’ve grown to appreciate Clapton more as a performer, recording artist, and as one of the greatest guitarists of all time, but I’ve never seen him live; until last night.
He was everything (and more) that I expected, playing selections from his lengthy career, and paying homage not only the blues artists who have influenced him but also to friends no longer with us.
Clapton and his band kicked of the Toronto concert with a cover of The Band’s The Shape I’m in, a fitting tribute to his longtime Canadian friend Robbie Robertson. Then, later, a tune he once recorded with Tina Turner: Tearing Us Apart.
The show was filled with both popular hits and selections you could tell he felt like playing. With a catalogue like Clapton’s there could have been even more hits, but he did what he had to do.
At age 79, Clapton’s seemingly effortless prowess on electric and acoustic guitar was both mature and effective. There were a lot of “wow” moments.
It was quite an evening.
What else can I say?
09/11/2023 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.
Of Truth And Reconciliation
Posted on September 29, 2021 by j.g.lewis
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Tomorrow is the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, a day to recognize the painful past of the relationship between Canada and its first nations people.
A federal statutory holiday created in June under an act of parliament, it is a day to honour the lost children and survivors of residential schools and the unfair treatment experienced by indigenous people.
It is a day for those of us non-native Canadians to acknowledge our part, and that of the generations that preceded us. It will be a day of reflection on the lives we have been living and the systemic racism we have lived with.
It hurts to think about it.
How can we deal with the guilt of decisions made before our time?
How can we deal with the outright imbalance of issues that continue to strain this country?
We need only think of the murdered and missing women across this country.
We think of the large number of indigenous communities in this country without safe drinking water.
This is Canada.
We live on stolen land.
And we continue to learn more, and learn of more and more bodies being discovered on the grounds of former government and church-run residential schools. For years the ghosts of these rumours haunted us.
Now we know of the corpses.
These are the lost generations we will think of tomorrow.
How can we speak for those who are unable to speak for themselves?
We need to seriously ask ourselves how we can become a part of the healing process, and how we can leave a better world for those to come.
This is especially difficult since we have already imparted our biases and beliefs onto our own children — either directly or by implication — and society, historically, has enforced our sad shortcomings.
We have not always been the best neighbours. More so, we have sinned or committed sins against those we have not known.
Many of us have not taken the time to know the truths, or their stories.
Some of us have listened to, or studied, the wrongful ways of the past.
For too long, too many of us have viewed our nation’s first people as our country’s first problems, and successive governments have perpetuated this pattern.
How can we become better ancestors?
We can begin today. Tomorrow will not come soon enough.
© 2021 j.g. lewis
