Where Do You Stand?

August 16

Boundaries, property lines,
convictions, reservations,
delays. REGULATIONS.
Morals or manners? TIME.
Which is yours,
what is mine? QUESTIONS
and answers. RULES
without rhyme, or reason,
or EXCUSES.
Basic human rights; sink or
swim, fight or flight.
WHERE do you stand,
WHAT will you say?
WHICH line
will you cross today?

08/16/2018 j.g.l.

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j.g. lewis

original content and images ©j.g. lewis

a decade of days…

2025 is an anthology of thoughts du jour, unsolicited advice, messages of peace, philosophy, poetry, and photographs from the past decade of Mythos & Marginalia. In unchronological order, the years not as important as the dates, each post a reminder (if only to myself) that I do indeed write every damn day.

April 4

mostly

we cannot help but

listen

not to the clamour of everyday time
but the space between

a thought

a smile

or

a goodbye

sometimes we tell secrets

mostly

the silence gives it away

© 2019 j.g. lewis

Leave a comment: mostly
April 1

letters and words

© 2022 j.g. lewis

April is Poetry Month

April is a celebration of letters and words;

all poetry, all the time, every day of the month.

www.mythosandmarginalia.com

Leave a comment: letters and words
March 29

indelible

Permanently placed.
Soft touch, a
lasting impression
where it counts.
I feel it.
You might
sometime try
to scour or scrape, but
you will never erase
the fingerprints
you left
on my heart.

© 2018 j.g. lewis

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April 2

this natural state

4:57 a.m.

at this hour

few are awake
fewer will notice

from warm beds

high above the streets

only the streetlights know
silence or the night chill

or both

quiet as can be

in a city that never sleeps
in a park that always listens

at a time for mysteries
of this natural state

sleep

darkness will soon be over

daylight will hide the secrets

the world will wake
and few will wonder

where you have been

© 2021 j.g. lewis

April is Poetry Month

Leave a comment: this natural state
March 31

propaganda or verse

Poets say
              April showers bring May flowers
So too say the liars, the preachers and prostitutes
who come to express what they’ve heard, but not
what they know.
   Unlike poets,
the doubtful and the disenchanted
often cry foul as we together mourn the loss of
common sense and decency.
A tarnished soul with a litany of pleas, a poet learns
words are worth little more than sand if not spoken
with wisdom derived from a broken heart, physical
traits of emotional details, and second-hand lessons
from third-rate teachers.
       It hurts to bleed.
       It hurts to need validation.
Honesty is not worth what it once was, but comes
at a significant cost.
       April soon, May will surely follow,
and politicians will say only what they want to hear
(like the prostitutes and preachers). Fraudsters all.
Only the poet sees the crime, unless
you know wherein the message lies.
       Society becomes as calm as it is
corrupt, when we take the words of a televangelist or
talk-show host as truth. Moving swiftly through topic
of the day – fentanyl crisis or racial pain – they don’t
know any better when speaking of so much worse.
Nor can they tell the difference between
propaganda and verse.
       The poet writes not of spring flowers,
       but of the dread instead.
Whom else but a poet (or discarded lover)
would sit in the rain and wait for tulips to bloom?
Other souls think it too impractical, too illogical, or
simply too wet to care.
          Them who cannot taste the difference
          between raindrops and a salty tear
          may never know bona fide honesty
                                      until they read about it.

© 2021 j.g. lewis

April is Poetry Month
all poetry all the time
right here

poetry every day

Leave a comment: propaganda or verse
March 27

a little easier

In tomorrow’s light,
things will look a lot
less frightening.

In tomorrow’s light,
maybe we can find
our way.

With tomorrow’s light
it might seem
a little easier.

In tomorrow’s light,
may we find comfort
throughout the day.

© 2020 j.g. lewis

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