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 . . .

look forward

The Tulips at St. James Park have run their course, the bulbs dug up and stored away until planting this fall.
    Right now it is just dirt, but I can feel potential.
    In the coming days, gardeners will fill the plant beds with a fresh crop of flowers to see us through the summer. I am anticipating beautiful things.
    Over the past couple of years, St. James Park has become a regular part of my landscape. It began during the COVID lockdown when I found myself passing through the park on my daily walks around downtown Toronto. It was more than a habit.
    The park became an oasis in my day; comfort within the concrete of the city. The shade of the magnificent trees always gave me a reason to stop.
    Sometimes I would sketch the flowers and trees, write a poem when the muse called out, or simply spend time with my journal or my camera.
    Some days I would just sit, as I did yesterday and the day before. Some days you only have to listen or look around.
    Yesterday, I noticed the water has been turned on in the bird bath after a two-year absence. It’s not quite a fountain but I know I’ll find myself, at some point, wasting time with my camera and capturing birds as they refresh themselves in the heat of the day.
    I look forward to it; time well-wasted is good for the soul. It’s always nice to have a place where there is the potential to do just that.

06/02/2023                                                                                                                   j.g.l.

?

We live in a world of what ifs.
What if we did something else,
or what if we weren’t there (as
sometimes we shouldn’t be
when it comes down to the
wrong place at the right time).
What if it never happened?
What if we had responded
differently or if we had taken
the advice we were told?
Would we have been so bold?

05/30/2023                                                                                        j.g.l.

Remembrance.

As it is, not
as we wish it to be.

You have days
to think back on,

and you do…

05/25/2023                                                                                           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.

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The Chaos and the Chorus

Posted on March 30, 2023 by j.g.lewis Leave a comment

For almost a decade I have partaken in Twitter; at one-time a generally innocent way of share bits and bytes of what was happening in the moment.
   At times, daily (or even more often), I would Tweet and re-Tweet my photography, poetry, and sample snippets of my opinions, essays and fortune cookie philosophies from my Mythos & Marginalia website.
   I engaged and interacted with human beings across this wonderful planet and enjoyed the contact and connection for the longest time.
   I’ve not been as regular these past couple of months.
   I am no longer sure about Twitter. I don’t like the direction it is going or, more so, where it was taking me.
   When I originally got involved in 2013 with the somewhat limited social forum (at that time a 140-character maximum), I would share positive thoughts on the context of the human condition and involve myself with day-to-day inspiration by passing something along.
   As my Twitter handle suggested, I intended to @sayit4word.
   At that time I was thinking positively, and for the most part I was.
   But, I guess, it was last year during the Ontario provincial election when I noticed I was not behaving properly, or rationally, and certainly not respectfully.
   I now know, or realized then, the forum itself was getting ignorant and obnoxious (even cruel). I noticed it mostly last February when the protesters involved with Freedom Convoy Rally began to take over our nation’s capital.
   Twitter got really nasty.
   And yes, I got nasty too.
   Throughout 2022, much of my anger was directed towards the fully-fledged idiot who managed to get himself elected as Premier of this province in 2018 and was being propelled towards re-election by a party and its anything-but-progressive pundits.
   I can see now and see how angry it made me. And, yes, I contributed to the mess Twitter is in.
   I’m no longer sure about Twitter. I haven’t tweeted for a couple of months. I don’t even check the forum regularly, certainly not as frequently as I used to; many weeks, not at all.
   I was even tempted, last month, to weigh in on the disturbing tale of Toronto’s mayor (or mascot) resigning after admitting an affair with a woman in his office half his age. I was thinking of all kinds of Twitter-appropriate comments, but after reflection, I managed to keep them to myself. I guess I was realizing that I would only be adding to the chaos and the chorus of idiots who were simply shouting into the ether without considering facts and feelings.
   I realized my Tweets and comments would be going against all I had imagined when I originally logged onto the social media platform.
   There was that lesson, a quote by Thumper from the movie Bambi, we learned as kids: “If you can’t say nothing nice, don’t say nothing at all.”
   So I have been silent for a while, but won’t be for much longer.
   April is poetry month, a period of the year I always cherish; so next month I think will step back into Twitter. I will start Tweeting again, but become more conscious of my intentions and try to pass on the more positive outlook I have been trying to nourish.
   I intend on saying it forward.

© 2023 j.g. lewis

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