The answers are far less certain
than even last week, to all those
perennial questions or solutions
you might seek.
What do you believe, or
what do you believe in?
Come Monday, you have fewer
questions than you had last week.
For a while there are less doubts
in what you believe.
Whom do you believe in,
and who believes in you?
11/18/2024 j.g.l.
We want to know what
we don’t know, or hadn’t thought of,
or forgot.
What mattered then,
or what mattered when, shifts over time.
We notice.
Perception is what you don’t see.
Deception is what know.
You see it differently through your aloneness.
The truth behind a lie,
you question how and why.
It made sense.
Anticipation keeps us waiting
for only so long. Will it matter
if you felt it never did?
© 2021 j.g. lewis
Slow down: even with the ideas that come to quicky. Take the time to acknowledge the feelings that arrive, as they arrive.
Write it down. How else will you remember what you were thinking?
Print neatly. You hardly understand the thoughts at the time, why make it more difficult to comprehend weeks or years from now?
Follow your own logic; only you need to truly make sense of what is happening, or all that has happened.
Pay attention to the lessons of the past. Be mindful that not all are worth repeating.
Clarity. Make corrections as you go. Flaws become more difficult to correct the longer you live with them.
11/14/2024 j.g.l.
As of late, for reasons as varied as they are non-existent, I have not been writing in the manner of which I have come to expect of myself. I am neither as prolific nor as detailed as, I feel, I usually am.
My poetry, while still insightful, does not command the length or breadth I feel I am capable of. Revisions to a manuscript I have toiled away on for some time have become painful (perhaps a sign that the work is closer to completion than I care to acknowledge), and my mind wanders to another project that requires the same diligence.
My daily writing is less than it once was (I feel guilty about that), and even the scant sentences I jot down in my journal seem to only document my time here on earth. Nothing extravagant, nothing more than a slight glimpse of where I am. Nothing that memorable, sadly.
I’ve been feeling for months that I am ready to embark on another kind of writing but have yet to determine exactly what that might be. I am full or ideas, characters, dialogue and circumstance, but it doesn’t quite feel like it has the backbone it needs to pull me in a certain direction. I even, a few weeks back, bought a fresh new notebook to keep these thoughts separate from all the others. The notes I have included in this book are random, undeveloped, at times personal, and (as of yet) make little sense. I reread these notes, almost daily, and I am inspired enough to clarify or expand on certain streams of thought, but it needs a more definite direction.
Perhaps I do as well?
11/17/2024 j.g.l.
What brings you here, anywhere
really? Out of habit, curiosity, or
happenstance? Each one of us
has patterns; a nature of being.
It is how we experience our time
in this place, on this planet, in
this city or another. Confusion.
A delusion? We are grounded by
behaviours, many of which we
will not realize or acknowledge.
Primarily, it is how we function.
Action or response to any given
situation. Stimulation, capitulation,
barely interpretation of that which
surrounds us. Still, here we are.
Nevertheless. In the midst of it all.
11/15/2024 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.
What will you ask of me? What can I ask of myself?
Loyalty is often full of scrutiny, even for me. Beware.
I knew enough about you to know the little I do.
Co-dependent, confused contradictions, soften our
virtues and values, moral superiority, questions even
I cannot answer about myself, certainly of thee.
What emotions have you survived? Have you truly
known a ride and die? What of the detours you didn’t
see coming? Then, I felt you deserved more; even an
excuse or explanation, but someone else had other ideas.
The levity and longevity of any relationship formed over
time, will forever sit in the mind. If you think about it.
© 2024 j.g. lewis
A shifting shadow, the curious
moon, drop of rain resting on a
gentle leaf, a song or sound
from a passing car, laughter
caught in the night’s slight
breeze. Exacting opportunities
like these just happen. Naturally.
Sometimes it’s the
simple things that inspire.
Be moved. All day you’ve been
waiting for this moment. Now.
Create when you can.
© 2018 j.g. lewis
I have never been this age before; that itself a reason for celebration
or concern. I suppose it depends on how you look at past days and years
and the many more to come. My mindset matters with all considerations
of what is going on nowadays with others as much as myself. Life is good.
Years ago, and I can’t specifically recall how many they were or how
many times, I wondered what it would be like when I was older.
I am now, but perhaps not as old as I thought, or as I expected, or
what I was thinking. What is old? What should it feel like? Why?
In a decade or so will I consider old to be what I am, or what I was?
What am if I do not question what I am, if not where I am, in the
grand scheme of life? It’s the way it should be, naturally or curiously,
as we question life and how we should be living. Shouldn’t we?
© 2024 j.g. lewis
We take tally of days, events, and milestones that matter;
even subconsciously. They matter, in time, or at the time.
Each stroke, each day, represents something monumental
in some way. We recall days, perhaps not as often as we
should, that leave an impression on our mind. People and
places influence our solitary path, especially when we feel
alone. The conscious kindness of others will brighten your
life cycle in periods when you need to shed greater light on
what we have lived through. No columns represent wins or
loses. Every single mark a subtle stanza of a never-ending
poem registering episodes of emotion. Over time, all of our
experiences add up to well-lived life. Swift as a heartbeat, the
sheer number of marks on the page is ever-humbling. We
are present through it all. Whatever stage you find yourself
in this journey, it is just as important to remember all of the
occasions and occurrences as it is to leave space for more.
© 2024 j.g. lewis
Emotions are the same in any language, yet
there will be incidents where you don’t understand.
Not for lack of trying.
Life lessons — if not history — have taught us nothing.
Humanity’s polarity persists past present boundaries
to points unknown, even unconsidered, even now.
Daily news, political views usurp common sense as
deterioration of human rights remain a plight
upon our soul’s landscape.
Where is dignity of diversity?
Why can’t we live together?
We can hypothesize, empathize, rationalize, or sympathise;
it takes an effort greater than what we exert.
Distractions hinder; not as much as they hurt.
This division by bloodline, gender, orientation, social status,
or nation is oft considered more a division
than what it needs to be.
We must try harder.
It is far more than you and me
Humility takes effort. Our attempts seem so unfulfilled,
detractions day-by-day of what we value most.
See the signs, be aware, we will only find resolution if
we dare to step beyond congenialities.
Each sole survivor in this human race will only survive
tests of time if we flavour our thoughts with grace and
understanding. A common mind.
Apathy has no place.
We must learn to love one another before we run out of time.
© 2024 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.
