open space

If you doubt yourself
as much as you doubt others
you will not progress

10/09/2020                                         j.g.l.

days change
we change
daily
we adapt
accommodate
try to understand
the change
in the days
in our self
in this life

everything changes
nothing is permanent

the days change
from one
to the next
and you adapt

you have to

10/06/2020                            j.g.l.

Scrappy branches of barren trees
scratch against October’s crisp cobalt sky.
Moonlight
and a mother’s bedroom lamp
paint screaming banshees
across the front lawn.
Winds heighten
to an eerie squeal.
She leans in, pulling a safety pin
from her ear.
Tussled hair, the scent of patchouli
and cigarettes. Her lips
taste of the night.
A safety pin punctures the
denim jacket’s collar.
Forever.
A poignant promise
from a shadow too young to notice,
not old enough to know.
Long ago.
Still, now,
I wear a safety pin on my jacket,
if only to remember the taste of the night,
and the smell of autumn.

j.g.l.

Where are you?
It’s not always a simple question, but it could be satisfied with a one-word answer. Like home, or Toronto.
Even a sentence like ‘on my way to work’ or ‘getting coffee’ could provide a timely response.
But do you understand where you are in the grand scheme of things? Are you getting there, or getting by?
Is where you are where you want to be?
Some people have no place to be.
Other people have nowhere to go. Home can be both a destination and a location. Or a wish.
Some people don’t have that.
Think about it.
If you have a roof over your head, think about how fortunate you are.

10/01/2020                                           j.g.l.

You catch yourself wanting to say,
to ask, to cry out for help, for attention
or for effect. Even if only to see
if anybody is listening. Yet you don’t.
Anger ignites, anxiety rages, and the
consequences of a handful of
wholly conscious decisions scorch
the fragility of the present. It matters
not what tinder was sacrificed
to the flame, for now it is ash. Now
useless. Consumed. There is nothing
else left. You know, deep down,
what matters is what you ask, or say,
to the one person who has always
been there. See yourself. Be yourself.

j.g.l.