create

October 2, 2026

/ HJ / Leave a comment

i love doing things with my hands
creating and crafting and seeing something come to fruition
with only my fingers and a few fibers to start
and i love creating with my mind
and using letters and words and language
and the simplest of things build whole worlds
and express emotions i never thought i’d be able to express
and i love being physical
creating strength from my own muscles
creating an audience reaction through my own movement
and stage presence
and i love organizing
creating a sense of order where
once there was none
and i love acting
taking only my own experiences
and creating a whole new person
from others’ words
and my empathy
and some research
and guidance from a director
and reactions from fellow actors
and i think the conclusion this poem is giving me
is gifting me
is that everything i love has a sense of creation
and that could be the biggest aspect
of the things that i love
that i love the most

June 23, 2026

/ HJ / Leave a comment

the quiet of the wee hours
the hours after all obligations have ended
and most humans have already gone to sleep —
those are the sacred hours for many a theatre-maker/
artist/
performer/
writer/

night-owl —

i used to worship at the feet of
two
and three am

but something changed in my internal workings;
was it a global pandemic?
or some genetic sleeper cell that had been waiting
all along to detonate?
or a combination of happenstance and physiology
all in one?

i can no longer own the title night owl

i am solidly
early
bird

i now hold in my heart my quiet, special time
of 5 and 6 and 7 am
when everyone
[and the night owls especially]
still dream in soft beds —
i am awake and working on
myself
and my own mind
and writing and writing before the world
churns again

the quiet of the wee hours
can be anyone’s,
whomever needs them

night owl

early bird

and anyone in-between

the hours can be religious in nature
or secular if you need no belief
but the sacredness comes from
inside

the sacredness comes from
what you
need

March 27, 2026

/ HJ / Leave a comment

or needn’t poetry have a point?

we’re all just bumbling through
in these systems we’ve created

everything is made up
and maybe
that’s why i create

[because i’m not allowed to make whole new systems
so i make words fit my needs
rather than
the other way around]

[or something]

November 11, 2025

/ HJ / Leave a comment

poetry
to keep non-poets away

that is not for me to say

i am here to help you see
the arts are always welcoming
you need only find the place that makes sense
in your own soul

everyone can poem
everyone can paint
everyone can act/sing/dance/make/
do
if you want to
if your drive is to express yourself

[it gets complicated when careers and livelihoods are at stake,
but art for art’s sake —
that is always for
every
one]

November 10, 2025

/ HJ / Leave a comment

fall into a concept:
drag kid
for the gender you’ve always wanted to be
but couldn’t — the exaggerated child actor
[here it’s safe from sexualization, at least not
without it being weird]
[maybe]
[hopefully]
could i make the mix i want?
could i use my little kid voice acting skills
for this
silly
silly
ridiculous
possibly exactly what i need
concept?

May 31, 2025

/ HJ / Leave a comment

but what to write about
when my brain feels so tired
and exhausted from trying to
be creative all week
and knowing that there’s still a couple of things
left to adjust
and fix and mix in
but it’s ok
for a first
draft

it’s ok
for my first
try

it’s ok
for a first
and maybe even a second

or maybe
maybe
maybe
it’s better than ok
for all of those things

[i need to believe
in my creativity
more]

May 26, 2025

/ HJ / Leave a comment

quiet the mind
just enough to hear the important thoughts/
the creative thoughts/
the thoughts that are often drowned out
by anxiety rambling
and existential depression blues

there may be creative moments
inside those diatribes

but i’ve heard enough of them to know —
it’s getting past them
that the true me
lies

[in truth]