Mythos & Marginalia

2015 – 2025: a decade of days

  • not uncommon

    Often in the night
    you can’t let go of the day. It is not a problem, or concern,

    mainly it is the way you think instead of dream.

    You plan, you scheme.

                                               You fit words
                                               into the spaces.

    It is not uncommon, each night and often, to stare and search
    for comfort in thoughts that should be dreams.

    You can’t let go of the day.           You simply don’t know

    what to say to each circumstance that has, then, become a concern.

    Often.    Then is no moral or resolution to take hold of,
    but you cannot let go.

    All that you know, ashamed of emotions, the mendacity of the mind
    seeking substance instead of sleep.

    It is power when we feel weak.

     

    © 2023 j.g. lewis

     

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  • Bending Light

    Refraction. Reflection.
    Gradient tones of expression,
    landscapes or history,
    our light rarely follows a straight line.
    Curves. Diagonally,
    adjustment required in space or
    sign, it seeps through cracks
    moves forcefully beyond sublime.

    Unusually unaware,
    we cannot control the capacity, or
    silence, of corresponding darkness.
    An unlikely presence of another mind.
    Intimacy initially.
    To those who dare expose themselves,
    our light will not be altered
    but eternally fortified.

    Transcendent existence,
    born unto an incidental state, we
    cannot separate stigma from strata.
    Dust on the wind, particles of matter.
    Fragmentation, alienation,
    morals to immortality, holding tight
    all we believe is crucial.
    Our life rarely follows a straight line.

    ©2018 j.g. lewis

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  • Necessity or Greed

                      Concrete and iron foundations give way
         to steel and glass structures growing ever higher

         each decade.

         Our skyline swallows up the landscape,

         shadows of the buildings below grow longer, taller

         indefinitely.

                           A reflection is merely what is there
                                                 after the damage is done.

         Urban renewal, construction cranes and condominiums
         and more vacant office towers.
         Overdevelopment, excavation,
         replacement or gentrification, population speculation.

                             This is history more than yesterday.
    What will we know when it has all been replaced?

         Our future overlooks its direction by a necessity or greed

         we can no longer imagine.

     

    © 2023 j.g. lewis

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  • Amen

    I will call it a prayer, for lack of
    a better word. It will hold more hope
    than a wish; more reality than a dream.
    It shall be spiritual, yes, but
    not religious, certainly not
    with a capital R. That kind of thing
    may have its place, but not here.
    Not now. Religion does not
    allow for differences, as I see it, and
    neither do they. Most would prefer
    to have everything go their way.
    My prayer, as I will call it, is one
    for respect and appreciation
    of our differences.
    Not one of us is the same and none
    of us are to blame. It is as it is, but
    need not be what it was. In my prayer,
    and it should not seem like a dream,
    our differences would not divide us,
    but make us stronger as we allow
    an increased capacity of forgiveness
    in thought and in action.
    Acceptance comes from
    surrounding ourselves with those who
    may chose an unfamiliar destination,
    wear a different colour of skin, or
    identify by another sexual orientation
    than the one we have known.
    My prayer, and my hope, is one where
    we will believe in others
    as much as ourselves.
    This is the prayer that keeps me giving
    and breathing, this is a dream
    that keeps me hoping and believing.

    Amen

    © 2019 j.g. lewis

     

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  • thereafter

                            

                               The Father they speak of accepts
                                    the scent, custom or tradition,
                                                         of burnt offerings

                        incense                                   incensed

                                   God shall know
                                     thou shall not

                                       confuse disclosures

                 ‘Father, I have sinned’
                 common confession
                           for those who

                                    do not understand

                                        a candle lit
                                        provides protection from the flame

                                       Evil ways

              cast no doubt
              on disbelievers

                          The silent thereafter hangs
                           as smoke above an alter
                           I know so little about

    © 2023 j.g. lewis

     

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