clownshow of a government

September 22, 2026

/ HJ / Leave a comment

if you are reading this poem from far into the future
don’t let those who write the history books convince you
that this was a golden era of plenty

it was not

it absolutely is not

things are really really really bad right now

but don’t let them convince you that everyone was
dour
sad all the time
doing nothing
having no happiness

we find joy

we find joy

it’s what keeps us going/living/fighting for the future
for you

the black and brown folks i know
the immigrants and citizens
the neurodivergent and disabled
and all my queer kin, we can find
happiness in even the bleakest of places

it’s what makes us so resilient

it’s what makes us all worth fighting for

even when we give up on
fighting for ourselves, we
continue on, fighting for
each other

and that, i believe, is one of the most beautiful things
about our community

[and what those in power
absolutely lack]

so

things are bad

no one has enough money to truly live

ice is terrorizing everyone
no matter immigration status

our rights are being stripped away
and we are absolutely aware of it

and

we dance in the streets
we find someone to hold at night
we feed our dogs and our cats
and our fish/birds/lizards/other animals
sometimes before we feed ourselves
we care for each other
and seem to continue passing around the
same twenty dollars
ad infinitum, but damn, that twenty dollars
can make a difference in someone’s week
and we play games
and we check in
and we let each other know when we’ve
gotten home safely
and we meet strangers whom we know
care about people
and we give our knowledge to them
we give our trust to them
because we know we cannot continue
without others
and others cannot continue
without us doing our part

it sucks
and it’s joyful
and we’re working so hard against
those who would take everything away
for a lackluster feeling of power and a hoard of
fake monetary wealth

but we are concentrating on each other and the joy right now

those who suck can continue to fuck up humanity in their little gated communities
and giant white houses

here is where the party is

and the party is
revolution

May 3, 2026

/ HJ / Leave a comment

breathe through
the pain
the panic
the day
the week
the month
the year
the administration
the takeover
the ugliness
the inhumanity
the world
the lifetime

[a life is meant to be lived
fully, not
breathed
through
until the end]

[if only those who made it this bad
did any meditation
of self-reflection
of their own damn actions]

April 8, 2026

/ HJ / Leave a comment

to write
of rights
of all the rest of us
who disagree
with this
dumbass
dictatorial
authoritarian
administration
[that couldn’t get an actual majority of citizens’ votes
legally
if they wanted to]

but to write,
my rights
are being taken away
disappeared
along with actual human beings
citizens
and legal immigrants
and legality shouldn’t matter
when it comes to
humanity

i feel hopeless and helpless
and i know that’s on purpose
but maybe with all of us
we can overthrow this asshole
one
word
one
person
one
hope
at a time

March 2, 2026

/ HJ / Leave a comment

it’s already
march
but january and february seemed to take
forever

will the rest of this year
fly
by

or will it stretch and strain
as our cheeto in chief
brags about wars
and killing
whomever he pleases

i know i know i know
in just a few years
this will all have seemed
like it happened in the blink of an eye
but living in it
is dunking one’s head in molasses
and expecting
to blink
and breathe
and see
normally

February 26, 2026

/ HJ / Leave a comment

the morality
against ai
or for
the one company
willing to refuse
to bend to pressure
from our fascist fucked-up government

[the condolence we have
is
we give money to support
their stance, and
if they end up bending
we can just
cancel
and give it up
and be curmudgeons all over again]

February 5, 2026

/ HJ / Leave a comment

perhaps we’re living on the edge

perhaps the space age is actually coming
and the future will be so much brighter
than this tragic darkness we’re currently enduring
and our art will be the stuff of legends
of how we got out from under
fascist strong arms
and authoritarian ties
and everything will turn out
alright
in the end

i’m hopeful
but not expectful
because i know how these “governments” work
and we are facing a long
long
long
long
long trek ahead
[even a flashy fast apocalypse
would be welcomed more
than this slow descending trend
towards the end]

but as much as i see each moment
as if it’ll be viewed in history
i do not have the foresight of the future
i cannot know exactly what direction we’re taking
until it’s already been
taken

so i’ll simply say this:

continue fighting
whether the end is in sight
or not — perhaps your words will inspire
the next artist
to write

and on and on we inspire
and write
and fight

until the light actually
comes blazing
through.

November 24, 2025

/ HJ / Leave a comment

constantly feeling on a precipice

of the world burning

of my own superstardom

of our own government disintegrating

of my writing something inviting and entrancing
to my own
senses

but i think,
at least for my own cliffs’ edges,
i cannot wait for the feeling of falling —
i need to just
jump

November 21, 2025

/ HJ / Leave a comment

the morning poetry
still in the morning
still in the morning
as my father waters all his plants
and as the puppy gets into trouble
in the kitchen
the kitchen of my childhood
which only looks half like it did
in my childhood
and i have already scoped through the dozens
perhaps hundreds
of articles of clothing i still have in this house
to see if anything
still slaps

and now my father is done with the plants
and is playing with the puppy
like he had promised her
and i can see into the dining room
as they play
and play and play
and i think it’s
almost
as good as me bringing him
a grandchild
to play with

[maybe
maybe
maybe when our country
isn’t trying to literally kill
anyone who isn’t a
cis
straight
white
upper class
christian
man

maybe then
we’ll bring him one]

October 26, 2025

/ HJ / Leave a comment

we’re getting closer
and closer
and closer
to spooky time
and i cannot help but feel
this halloween season is a little
lackluster—perhaps what with the being busy
perhaps with the fact that the administration is doing
far scarier things than the imaginary haunts and ghouls
ever could [a human monster is always so much worse], but
i wish i could enjoy october in the way i usually do…
but i simply don’t think that’s in the cards right now

and, honestly, that’s ok