Mythos & Marginalia

2015 – 2025: a decade of days

a daily breath

  • too much to live for

    As we tear the cellophane off a brand new year and look forward to what will come in the weeks and months ahead, it’s only natural to set goals and intentions. It is what we do as a society; common practice for our lives and times.

    We make resolutions to find deeper sleep, exercise more, eat better, save more money, and complete all those things we have started. Often, in doing so, we set ourselves up for disappointment.

    I’m not going to make any resolutions this year. Yes, I’ve got things that need to be tended to, and so much stuff in a perennial state of ‘almost done’, but I’m not going to make an exhaustive list and cave under the pressure of expectations.

    Instead I’ve set a motto I hope will carry me through the year: Try to live tomorrow a little better than today.

    It seems pretty simple to me. Each day I will try a little harder to get stuff done, I will try to communicate better than I have in the past, try to be a little kinder, and I will try to enjoy things that come my way without overthinking how they came to be.

    I will try to make each day a little better.

    Now, I’m not sure there is a quantitative method of measuring my progress, and I’m not really going to look for one. Don’t we already have enough checks and balances built into our lives? And as soon as you attempt to put some system of metrics in place, it just becomes a numbers game.

    I am going to let my emotions and feelings determine how the day has been, or will be. I will make an honest, authentic attempt daily in some way. I will try because trying is the only way anything will happen.

    The moment you stop trying is the moment you begin dying, and I have far too much to live for.

    We all do.

    01/02/2017

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  • Mondays are just young Fridays

    Ten years ago, this website was only a blank page; not quite a dream and slightly more than a concept.

    When I originally launched Mythos & Marginalia, I was incautiously unsure about the form it would take. I committed myself to writing at least one piece a week to appear, always, on a Wednesday. 

    I was pretty sure, at that time, that there would be bits and pieces on other days of the week. If I was moved or had the time, if the stars aligned or the moon gave me a nudge, or if something was really bothering me, I would set my thoughts free. This would become my daily breath.

    Soon, Mondays became young Fridays and the days between contained photographs, essays, rants or raves, and my poetry. Each day of the week, over the past decade, has become evidence of my trials and tribulations, travels far and wide, and many concerns and consternations which still dog me today.

    Mythos & Marginalia is fundamentally a first-person account of my words (flaws and all), wonders, inspirations and photographs that mattered at the time. They still do.

    2025, for me, will be more than a summary of the decade up to now. In the coming year, every day, each piece or poem displayed on Mythos & Marginalia has appeared on that date sometime over the past decade. The reasons, seasons, and years change, yet the sentiment remains.

    In addition to the daily posts, there will also be a somewhat regular newsletter, sayit4word, that will hopefully brighten your days. Please click on the subscribe button further down.

    While you are at the bottom of this redesigned page, feel free to click on the logical and chronological archives, or the About section where you might get a better idea of who I am.

    I have thoroughly enjoyed looking back at what has accumulated over the years; I hope you will as well. Essentially 2025 will be an anthology for me; a reminder that I do indeed write every damn day.

    12/30/2024 j.g.l.

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  • changing changes

    This is a changing world 
    with changing changes. We 
    are evolving (or should be).
    We learn as required, or as 
    demanded. We think and act 
    differently, taking deliberate 
    action in an earnest attempt 
    to understand and keep up 
    with the quick pace of this 
    ever-changing existence. Do 
    you understand? What will 
    you learn today? How will it 
    differ from yesterday?

    © 2021 j.g. lewis

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  • cloud songs

             What lies in wait
       behind the dubious distractions?
           Eventualities are as endless as
       intentions.      Brighter days ahead
       if you allow yourself to believe in
                    what is not always there.
       It can be.
           Every day is a possibility.


    12/27/2024                                                           j.g.l.
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  • Mondays are just young Fridays


    I’m like a pencil;
    sometimes sharp,
    most days
    well-rounded,
    other times 
    dull or
    occasionally
    broken.
    Still I write.

    For almost ten years I’ve been hosting Mythos & Marginalia and, for the most part, I’ve been writing every damn day.

    Over the past month, I’ve been working on a redesign of this site, adapting the style for easier access and a more complete viewing experience. There are still tweaks required (I discover more each day) and slight alterations to text and format but, for the most part, the back-end work is nearly complete.

    In the process, I’ve had the opportunity to review a decade’s worth of my poetry, photography, essays, and fortune cookie philosophies that have appeared on this page over the months and years gone by. It has inspired me to alter my plans for 2025 and present a new “project” beginning January 1st. More details soon.

    In the meantime, please have a look around. Click on the reformatted archives section near the bottom of the screen or try the ‘search’ selection right below that. The “About” section explains a little more about me and where or what I am (or have been). Feel free to comment as you go, I enjoy keeping in touch.

    There is a ‘subscribe’ button down there as well. Many of you have subscribed in the past, but the feature has had issues over the years and the notices simply stopped. Even if your name and email is still on some long-lost mailing list, I’d encourage you to, again, sign up. There will be a newsletter soon; all part of my 2025 project.

    Thank you for reading. I hope you find the new format easier to navigate and understand.

    11/23/2024. j.g. lewis

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