Mythos & Marginalia

life notes between the lines and along the edges

  • acuity

    Everything is not as it seems

    lines align

    horizontally
    v
    e
    r
    t
    i
    c
    a
    l
    l
    y                       a grid is formed

    parallel lines mark our lifetime
    yet the obvious is not apparent

                            focus on the dot
                            centre of screen

    look closely at all
    that you perceive

    we cannot always see straight ahead
    and hindsight seldom serves a purpose

    distortions or distractions
    breaks in the lines            clarity
                                                           acuity

    your central vision is not
    the same on the periphery

         at a distance do you readily
         recognize common forms

    you will not see things like me

    you will not see the same
    through
                            each eye or
                             each other

    open or shut

    are all the lines complete enough

    even in the black and white
    there are many areas of grey
    not all lines remain
    clear and straight

                            lines converge
                            edges distort

    like life
    we rarely see

    the complete picture

    © 2023 j.g. lewis

     

    Leave a comment: acuity

  • Scars Remain

    Bruised. Beat up.
    Each day we hurt; each day we heal some way:
    physically, spiritually, superficially
    in most cases.
    We exist with pain
    we cannot forget, nor will we get past.

    It moves with us
    through phantom limbs. What is, what it was,
    or what will never be. No matter how
    we squirm, meditate, medicate
    or mask our wounds
    we bleed.

    You cannot wipe
    the taste of an old lover from your lips,
    a parent’s words echo, mistakes sustained.
    Thoughts better left for dead,
    and very much alive.
    Terminal disappointment.

    Remove the dressing,
    scars remain: reminders; where we have been,
    what we have done or
    what has been done
    to us. Excuses solemnly validate
    our existence.

    This art of living
    involves exquisite deception. Calloused knees bent,
    we pick at scabs from prayer
    or surrender. Impressions remain
    pressed into the skin.
    Of course we hurt.

    Who better would know
    the fundamental truth of the human experience?
    Tear off the bandage,
    the wounds will breathe. Proof
    we have done something that can and will
    make us stronger.

    © 2019 j.g. lewis

     

    April is Poetry Month
    it moves with us

    Leave a comment: Scars Remain

  • 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

     

    Leave a comment: not uncommon

  • 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

    Leave a comment: Bending Light

  • 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

    Leave a comment: Necessity or Greed