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.
a daily breath
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cloud songs
-
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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what is now
Believe in the coming day, the opportunities that will come, and the generations to follow. What is now is not what will be, and all we had is only a shadow of where we were.
Evolution happens, no matter how well, or how poorly, we are prepared. If we have not readied ourselves for the times ahead, we may well gain a more meaningful experience by simply maintaining a spirit open to the expansion and contraction of our lungs, and allowing our eyes to wander
If we only look straight ahead, we will certainly miss out on uncertain wonders, necessary distractions, and our true potential.
Breathe and see what could be, and let others notice exactly what you are.
Celebrate the darkness, and the light, that will guide you through another year.© 2019 j.g. lewis
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Hello Winter
The weight of winter hardly upon us,
only now is our reality apparent.
The season must be seen to be felt.
Without snow there are only
harsh winds and inconvenient truths.
Precipitation fuels our anticipation.
On the cusp of Solstice, Christmas
barely a week away, winter now visible.
We live the season as much as we wear it.
Months from now we will wish it all
away, yet today our feelings are as fresh
as the fallen snow. Hello winter.
12/20/2024 j.g.l. -
Mondays are just young Fridays
The learning never stops; and so, it shouldn’t.
Often, more through trial than error, I have taken on new tasks throughout my life and the experience (for the most part) leaves me in a better place; no matter how difficult it seems at first.
I am undertaking a redesign of this website. Not the type to go into things blindly, I’ve taken on some help to see myself through the process. I knew, from the outset, that I would require some assistance just as I did when I opened up Mythos & Marginalia almost a decade ago.
So much has changed in the years since. I wanted to take this opportunity to not only update the look of the website, but also my skills.
I am learning.
While I know (or think I know) what I want, turning my ideas into a tangible reality is not easy. I understand the fundamentals of page design from my years in the newspaper industry but editing and layout has come a long way from the days of pencils and pica sticks. Technically it is easier now (or should be), but it is the technology that I have issues with. My knowledge of coding was never what it should be, so I am trying to learn more.
The learning never stops.
The WordPress ‘classic editor’ — the platform I have worked on until recently — is, principally, more straightforward with its options. Selecting text size was a drop-down menu, and aligning the type was just a choice of clicks. Working in this format had become routine.
The newer (and, apparently, more advanced) ‘block editor’ mostly seems to skip those familiar steps. I, now, should be able to work more visibly to adjust the text to what I am trying to achieve. That’s a big “should be”. I am, right now, daunted by what should be simple keystrokes and sizing on a very intuitive template.
Making mistakes is easy; correcting them often proves difficult. Understanding the errors of my ways takes understanding and knowledge. I am learning. Slowly.
I guess I had become too used to doing things in a certain way, in a specific order, always able to visualize the results. Now, in this new format, all I seem to be doing is confusing myself.
I am not working in my habitual ways. But I am still learning. That’s a good thing.
You don’t learn from routine, yet you should routinely be learning.
12/16/2024 j.g.l.
