It begins with sight.
Attention.
We steal a view, catch
a glimpse, at first not even noticing
eyes staring back. Across the room,
across our lives.
Attraction.
What we feel, all we see.
People come into focus
if only for a time, or longer. If we are lucky.
If we notice.
Fortunate we are
if
the beginnings are shorter
than the endings.
© 2024 j.g. lewis
Fake news, conspiracy theories, and unaccountable accounts of what is really going on, often heralded as divine truth. All lies, most of the time. Abundant now on all our screens, we struggle to know or understand what it truly means. Uninformed opinions are allowed much credence in an era where we really need to know. Politicians rant and rave, minds so flawed and so depraved you must question followers who wholeheartedly agree.
What passes for the news is nothing now, compared to what it was. Then. Perhaps it was limited access to history as it happened that required us to believe the events of the day. Daily newspapers, trusted broadcasts at the top or bottom of the hour, later revealed events at suppertime and then late-night news; we then paid attention. We had to. It had that power. Action and reaction.
Today, rare occurrences and once-in-a-lifetime happenings happen all too often in this never-ending 24-hour news cycle. Minutes and hours blur into everyday ephemera. Less is certain, more is questionable, not enough is never enough information. Misinformation/disinformation: one in the same, a deadly game.
Who, what, where, when and why. Always with the questions. There are less authentic reporters than answers. Journalism suffers: our fifth estate in a crisis state. It is not aways fair, it is not always obvious, it is not always news. Sadly. A celebrity event disguised as the truth is simply not news.
No isolation from the devastation as our world has been compacted onto tiny screens, perhaps small enough for our minds to handle. Mainstream media is easy to blame when you don’t take the time to find out for yourself. Things will really happen when the media is not around to notice.
And you won’t believe it.
© 2024 j.g. lewis
Intelligence and intellectuality,
a consciousness of our reality.
Clarity.
Perspicacity, mental reception
or sensory perception, emotions
consequential
to daily expression of thoughts
and being, lay within our mind.
Two percent
of a body’s mass; small in size
and stature, a human brain has
greater efficiency
than we consider thinking about.
Involved in; no, responsible for
everything we do.
Neurons and neurotransmitters
affect fundamental function and
well being
far beyond our mental health.
Grey matter. And matter it does.
How we think,
feel, react or behave, the mystery
or magic of the cerebrum is tested
daily. Now,
then, and again, and again. Always.
Anxiety, depression, joy and pain,
deeper thoughts
hidden inside memory and minutes
contained within the human brain.
Believe.
© 2024 j.g. lewis
We do what we do until we are comfortable doing it.
Uncomfortable, at first, it is a desire to realize our intention that pulls us through the process.
We try; we keep trying. Seeking satisfaction, we keep doing what we do. We may feel we are up to the task, but often wonder why.
Oh, the wonder of it all.
It takes a while to see results, but they are of less concern than the why and while it takes. It is doing more than seeing and being more than believing.
When it comes to anything, you need not ask yourself what you are doing or even why you need to do it. Instead, ask yourself what need it satisfies.
© 2024 j.g. lewis
Summer’s shifting shade does little to shield us
from the obvious. Heat, humidity, a melting pot
of humanity. Deep in the city.
Our landscapes deteriorate, neighbourhoods in
decline, as we strive to cope with this evolution.
Distended discomfort, rarely placated by fashion,
or politics, or the indifference of it all. Signs and
symbols cannot be ignored.
Boundaries erode between what we know and all
we have still to learn. Ignorance takes its place.
Respect the culture. Significance has its way of
seeping into common view, shrouding every day
with language we speak.
Unknowingly at first, style and substance reach
beyond all we are capable of understanding. Or try.
Routinely we attempt to quench our deep thirst for
something more. Once exotic, even erotic, now
commonplace. Right here.
The sense of self hungers for a piece of it all, but
we fear what we do not know, say, or hear.
History, yes, but is the old lost on vagabonds or
restless teenagers caught up in the seismic shift
of popular culture? Questions.
Answers may not be found in bastardized language
we have come to speak, by destiny more than design.
No longer defined by geography, topography or
empathy, our interpretation of cities, as we age,
disrupts our views of ourselves.
Will others see what so very few of us will realize?
Individually, as a community, we all must change.
© 2024 j.g. lewis