human

October 6, 2026

/ HJ / Leave a comment

it’s always fascinating how
in the weeds
humans can be
when looking at things
minusculely
minutely

forgetting the grand meaning of the universe
[which is probably meaningless]
so have a great time and help others out
[not necessarily in that order]
is what i’ve established as my base reasoning for existing
and my personal philosophy centers mostly on kindness
and i know i have a ton of privilege
to have that as my core reason for being
and to have had the time to spend
really mulling over the universe and all it means
but i figure i might as well use my privilege
to bring kindness to others
philosophically
as well as personally
so that this portion of the world
can get just a little bit more
kind
than it was before me

that’s what i’m leaving when i’m gone:
a long long string of
kindnesses

September 16, 2026

/ HJ / Leave a comment

make
bad
art

we need more
human
bad art

or at least something filled with
life
and breath

art is life
life is art

ai is not currently life/breath/creativity

ai cannot make art

it can make amalgamations of other humans’ art
it can mix styles like paint
but that is just a technical ability

art is ephemeral and hard to describe

it needs life

in needs breath

it needs person-ness

so make bad art, because no matter how bad it is
it
is
still
ART

August 28, 2026

/ HJ / Leave a comment

of course it’s when avoiding one thing
that i’m finally in the mood to do
another long avoided task

is that human nature?

is that the trauma?

is that maybehd?

could it be
all three?

August 21, 2026

/ HJ / Leave a comment

we each have inside ourselves
a whole universe
of old inside jokes
and references to references
and stories we need for context
for other stories
and when meeting people
i don’t know if i’d be able to catch up on
everything
but i can at least see the most up-to-date moments
and stories
and get some highlights
and context
and i love that about people
[everyone has so many stories to tell]

~

that whole poem came out of
the concept of
“the hj cinematic universe”

[for context]

August 10, 2026

/ HJ / Leave a comment

i spend so much of my time
and mental energy
avoiding doing anything expected
anything cliché
anything too human-made

which is so incredibly silly
because i, myself, am human-made

July 30, 2026

/ HJ / Leave a comment

i still have a tendency to downplay things i’m excited about
to not get fully
actually
excited about them
because what if something happens
and i’m no longer able to do the thing
i was so damn
excited about?

the roller coaster of emotions
from so stoked
to so damn devastated
is one i’ve experienced
more times than i’d care to have experienced

it is an emotional roller coaster
that i do not
want to ride
ever again

but
isn’t part of living
experiencing emotions?
the good and bad and devastating
the excitement and disappointment
and even boredom
are all part of the human experience

and isn’t that all i’ve ever longed for:

an experience and an understanding
of being
human?

January 27, 2026

/ HJ / Leave a comment

when lying on your deathbed
with your last breath
you can’t take it with you —
power accrued
wealth amassed
bodies stylized
any of that

what stays with you is
love
and
your acceptance of self

i’ve seen the love in a room
carry a soul
to whatever comes next

and i know when i die
i may have some small regrets
but you’ll never find me regretting
the person i’ve become

so what
is the point
of what so much of humanity
has

done?

January 17, 2026

/ HJ / Leave a comment

distract yourself with crimson glaze
with pink chiffon
with aesthetics and
art

[is art a distraction?
or is it a human need?]

[or is distraction itself
sometimes
a need?]

[i don’t know
i don’t know
i try to speak for
the entirety of the human race
but so few of them make any sense
to my own senses
that i’m simply trying to
live life
i’m simply trying to
continue to
want to live life
keep life
going
i’m simply trying to
try
sometimes
not even all the time
just
sometimes
sometimes sometimes
sometimes be my own human self
sometimes try to speak for
those in the human race that today’s humanity
seems to leave behind
sometimes try to
connect with others
in a way that
raises both parties up
from one level of existence
to another
greater
kinder
more enlightened
not to be better than others
but to carry everyone
with us — if i share enlightenment with three people
and each of them share with
three more
how long until we have all of humanity
together
and looking out for
each other?]

this rambling poem
is to say
as much as i feel like i
will never understand the
rest of the human race, i keep making art
for them for them for them
for the connection to get to know them
and have them know me

i can’t help it

that’s part of living as/with
humanity

January 12, 2026

/ HJ / Leave a comment

writing about things
about losing
and possibly gaining

[about gaming the system
that seems incapable of collapsing
without dire consequences]

about consequential
and inconsequential
choices

for our own choices
will always always always bring
something
to our own lives

but in the grand schemes of planets and universes and stars
what is one
human’s
mistake

[what is one species’
constant
blunder?]

January 2, 2026

/ HJ / Leave a comment

down that coffee
chug that water
sprint down the stairs and
get ready for the day ahead
today
today
it will be
a day

[still kind of on
vacay
and spending time with kip
continuing traditions
and making new
and just do it
just get excited
and run run outrun the seasonal
depression
slowly invading your
head]

~~~

how come
this past
holiday season
i was unable to find
any
goddamn
candy canes
[of the candy cane flavor
variety]
?

[i found plenty
of skittles-flavored candy canes
and candy cane flavored
other things
but absolutely
zero
candy cane flavored
candy canes]

where did they all go?

has capitalism forced creativity
beyond our human wants and desires?

probably.

almost
definitely.

[well, at least our ai overlords
can enjoy the absurdity of our
‘ingenuity’
atop our burning bodies
after the world catches on fire
and the only water left
not contributing to coastal flooding
is being fed to them]

~~~

the problem
the problem
the problem is
i know
i know
i know our apocalypse
will be
so
so
so
slow

we won’t see it coming
we won’t acknowledge it here

we’ll just keep hoofing it to work
and buying our bagels
as our eyes slide past
broken infrastructure
and bodies in the street
until we’re about to be the body
and by then
it’ll be
too late
[and another person will walk past you
pretending
everything
everything
everything
is normal]