poem a day

July 16, 2024

/ HJ / Leave a comment

the cat, on her perch, on her throne of my lap
leers over the puppy, resting innocently on the ground
unperturbed by the feline creeping closer,
as she jumps to the ground, and the puppy
stays still as a statue, only her nose going,
the cat passes, and the puppy wishes
so hard that they could play
at least for a moment
at least for a day
at least for a lifetime
the puppy prays,
but the cat is only interested
in food and hassles
and annoying all other animals
in this house.

the puppy has no recourse, no resource to break into the cat’s heart
so she waits, calmly, for the next opportunity to start
it all over again.

July 13, 2024

/ HJ / Leave a comment

organizing, hoping, working, planning
i’m waffling between excitement and dread
but the dread is the minutiae, the details, the prep
the excitement is the visit, the fun, the experiences
and how much time will i end up spending at Umami?

July 12, 2024

/ HJ / Leave a comment

shall i write in silence
or to the music of the a/c unit
as it strains its last legs
against this most recent heat wave
[will these legs last the next heat wave?
the rest of the summer?
into next year?
forever?]

July 11, 2024

/ HJ / Leave a comment

i’m always so inspired
to write music
when i experience music
good music
damn
is music
always
always
always going to be
going to continue to be
an important part of my life

July 10, 2024

/ HJ / Leave a comment

just write something
so this page doesn’t look so lonely,
so these words can have friends joining them
rather than setting myself up to
drop off random words
alone

July 9, 2024

/ HJ / Leave a comment

my heart has been beating
louder
lately,
like it’s trying to remind me that i have anxiety
[as if i ever forgot]
like if it beats harder
it’ll keep away whatever haunts my waking nightmares
[as if that’s ever been true
for anyone
in history]
like my own hand is squeezing every last ounce
of a will to live
to breathe
to be
out of it —
the last reserves
until november
until perhaps genocides themselves die down
but what happens if / when / if
what i hope will be calming
does not come to pass, and instead fate
doubles my heart rate?

will it then cease?
will it then quit?
will it explode like it’s threatened to a million times over
or will it somehow beat louder
harder
faster
faster
faster
faster
faster
faster

July 8, 2024

/ HJ / Leave a comment

it’s funny how gender-affirming sparkly nail polish can be
for me
for my estimation of in-between genders/
outside of the binary/
erring towards chaos/
creative/
forgoing gender
for individual
whatever/
in that mode
sparkles
on my nails
feels so
right

July 7, 2024

/ HJ / Leave a comment

all these scraps of songs
portions of poems
i’ve written in fits and starts
bursts of energy
of creativity
of enlightened states of being
just to fizzle out
after one verse
one chorus
one instance
of what i truly want to say
and have nowhere to go
no how-to-end-it
no place to place my hat up on the wall and say
“i’m satisfied with my words”