metaphor

May 7, 2025

/ HJ / Leave a comment

the days speed by
i get a glance
a flip of a flipbook
but the first few establishing shots
as i got the hang of it
went so much slower —
now they speed by
and i can’t tell if i’m missing a page
or a day
as the image on them
becomes something more than its individual parts
the still photos become a movie
the day to day becomes
a life

and i don’t like it

take me back to the days
when i could study each aspect
forever
and never knew what would happen
when it all flowed
freely
[uncontrollably]

April 3, 2025

/ HJ / Leave a comment

birds
swooping down in
the rain

puppies
pawing at the floor
for attention

and the outside
and the inside
always have some parallels

but it’s the liminal spaces in-between
where i find my own comfort

March 20, 2025

/ HJ / Leave a comment

i
often listen to podcasts
[more often than not]
and some of them i cannot stand
until and unless
they are sped
up
up
and away i run, blocking out my own thoughts
with speeds set to
increase
my own
anxieties

but when i slow down
and try
[i do try]
to listen at a show’s natural pace,
i find my heart pounding
waiting
each millisecond
for the next sound to be heard
like my own brain and body
accrue more anxiety
from normalness
and anticipation
than from the sped-up versions
of life

so
do i live in the moments
between moments
where time seems to extend
ad-infinitum
and unbearably so,
or do i continue to block out intuitions
and worry that my life
is speeding past my eyes
at an unrecognizable rate?

i don’t know
i don’t know

March 15, 2025

/ HJ / Leave a comment

i used to feel constantly
at a precipice —
like i was about to find
what my life was always meant to be —
like i just needed to hit one moment
or gain one good habit
or speak to one person
and my life would finally
finally
finally begin —
like i was gazing over the edge of a roller coaster
stuck at the highest hill
staring down into the unknown

i still feel very precipice-y
but lately i’ve been sitting back into my seat
and i cannot tell
if i’m finally starting to enjoy staring at the sky
instead of all the expectations below the ride,
or if i’m now trying
to push my weight
backwards
away from this precipice i’m approaching…

February 19, 2025

/ HJ / Leave a comment

feeling like i’m riding a roller coaster
but i have to physically get myself
up
up
up
up
the chain of every hill
pulling
and grinding the gears
until gravity and physics finally take over
and i can let myself go
but then i’m going
and going
and going too fast
and where i once had
so much
too much
control
i’m now hands off
letting it take me
where it wants

and i didn’t even create this roller coaster
i don’t know what it has in store for me
i can only see a few moments in front of me
and for me
who saw
the whole hill i was pulling myself up
[granted, the hill looked
even larger
even longer — i never saw
the drop coming]
being unable to predict
when the next turn
or loop
or tunnel
will happen
as it just seems to pick up
more and more speed
faster
and faster
is a bit too much for me,
but i’ve been on this roller coaster for a while now
and i know
there’s probably another hill coming
i’ll have to pull myself
up
up
up
and
along…

[but what if there’s not
what if
what if
what if this part of the ride
just keeps going
faster
speedier
wilder
out of control
until it’s too fast
too much momentum
for the track
and i rocket off?

would i die?

or would i land somewhere off of this preconceived track
when i can have some control
over direction
and height
and maybe even
not
be on a roller coaster at all?]

February 4, 2025

/ HJ / Leave a comment

seeing other folks’ art
is always so cool
and makes me want to write too

but i feel like i either
have nothing specific to write about
or too much in my brain
ready to all come out in some sort of
cacophonous stew

[but the brilliance of this metaphor
is that stew still has discernible parts
that can be picked away from the whole,
so maybe i should just try

and maybe one vegetable
will grow
a garden of a play

someday]

October 18, 2024

/ HJ / Leave a comment

if i sit perched
like a little bird
will the words stream out faster
and faster
like getting ready for takeoff
flying
soaring
through ideas and concepts and
landing with the right words
every
time?

August 5, 2024

/ HJ / Leave a comment

i’d love to get lost in a poem
[again?]
jumping off the ledge
of a blank sheet
of digital paper
just to be carried along
for the ride
on a subject matter
or an issue at hand
or even a feeling
flowing freely
from word to word
metaphor to simile
alliteration to experimentation
with each line getting longer and longer
or shorter and
shorter
or displaying all my creativity out in such a way
even i have to say
“hey, this one’s worth reading/
worth saying/
worth sharing”

but recently
i’ve only had the desire,
not the subject,
not the flow
to go
and get completely
lost
in a poem

April 30, 2024

/ HJ / Leave a comment

the drive to write is strong —
but what to write about
never seems to come along —
like i’m sitting at a type-writer
or a pen and paper notebook
and i am hovering above what
could very well be brilliant
imagery/alliteration/metaphor
and simile and allegory all
stuck together, but instead my
pen/finger tip just shudders,
the ache of keeping it up
too long as i wait, the heaviness
of the potential i feel in my
body mind and soul too much
too much for one little
writing utensil/blank screen
to hold, so instead i write
about nothing, i write about
wanting to write, i write over
and over again meta poems that
never seem to come to any sort
of fruition or resolution or
conclusion, and i continue
to write and write and write

and here i am again…