summer

September 1, 2025

/ HJ / Leave a comment

things i am looking forward to
as the season changes
from summer to fall:

not needing the a/c units blasting all the time
the smell of brewing pumpkin spice coffee wafting through the house
spooky music for morning pages
spooky things everywhere
the smell of fallen leaves being stepped on
the sound of fallen leaves being stepped on
the lessening of all these mosquitos
and feeling like the crisp wind has forced me
AWAKE
after months of lazy hazy summer days turned to nights turned to days

there is an ephemeral liminalness to autumn
that even though it harkens the coming of my most hated season
i still do love its passing by

July 19, 2025

/ HJ / Leave a comment

hitting that point of the summer
where my goosebumps and shivers come out
indoors
for everyone in the united states insists on
blasting their air conditioners as high
and as cold
as machine-ly possible

and myself
[and the earth]
am[are] the one[s] who suffer for it

June 1, 2025

/ HJ / Leave a comment

first day in june
and i wake up
so cold

make some hot coffee
turn up that heat
things pride month
is usually
without

what kind of vibe does this bode
for the rest of the
season?

[or is this getting the
awkward/bad/less gay stuff
out of the way
so the rest of june will be
great…?!]

August 28, 2024

/ HJ / Leave a comment

fall is full of figs
and spooky season seasonings
and i’m beginning to like the autumn
because the heat of summer here sure is oppressive
and everything feels like it’s
waiting

but here comes the doing
the happening
the season that gets busier and busier
and i feel like
maybe
i can find myself
before it gets too cold

August 24, 2024

/ HJ / Leave a comment

august slips in
unassuming
hot and lazy
and fading summer away
till the end when it startles us
with our first few colder mornings —
the days still heat up
but the air around us breeds
change
that we should have seen coming

July 6, 2024

/ HJ / Leave a comment

Three Musings on Summer Thunderstorms:

the sky darkens to post-sunset dusky grey
and a lightning bolt passes by my window
the rumble of thunder
the stream of rain
and this summer storm is at it again

[i love this weather]

~~~

thunderstorms make me smile
interrupting the daily toil
of sunrise and shine and set and night
darkening a summer morning
or lightning-flash-brightening
midnight pitch black,
sounds escaping our atmosphere —
booms and cracks and the smacks of hard raindrops
cleansing the air
feeding the ground
offering greener hues when the showers subside
and summertime just isn’t summer
without

~~~

drench me in rain
fill my ears with thunderclaps
and my eyes with bright bolts of lightning

let me taste a summer storm
and offer my nose the delightful scent
of petrichor

as the pressure changes
and my heart grows
and i know
i’m present and whole.

June 23, 2024

/ HJ / Leave a comment

summer is for hot hot sun
and sticky nights
too much sunscreen making not much difference
in the plight of red faces and needing shady spaces
and ice cream melting all over your hands
and lazy moments where the clock seems to stand
exactly still for longer than a second
a minute
an hour
and looking out over some green or body of water
can remind you of a moment of your childhood
or make memories of cartwheels and babies
in a town you’ve never visited
and may never come back to again
but that’s june for you,
that’s what summer is meant to do.

May 26, 2024

/ HJ / Leave a comment

outside
writing morning poetry
in the afternoon
listening to the sweet melodies
of trains and planes and crows above me
and the puppy pacing to keep up with everything that needs investigating

i do kind of wish we would have spent more time outside
before the weather turned from mildly warm
to HOT
and this isn’t even the hottest it’ll be
not even close

but
we’ll deal with the sweat
and embrace the sun
[or hide underneath the sail of shade]
and let the puppy play with us
and keep the cat
well hidden
inside
from afternoon
outside time

September 4, 2023

/ HJ / Leave a comment

sudden raindrops
out of a halcyon sky

[so cloudy
it mimics
a deep clear blue]

one drop
then two
then a few
only on me
only on me

until they start to fall
on kip
and computer too

and we walk
swiftly
(but don’t run)
back home
to enjoy this summer storm
in peace
and
coverage

July 26, 2023

/ HJ / Leave a comment

help me see —
one and one and one make me
less likely to spend time outside
but more likely to desire that vitamin d/
sunlight hitting my pasty skin
i see only lobster burn
i see only carcinogen —
but knowing i could be out
knowing i could walk about
that is enough to balance out
my extreme depression
into something more equivalent
to simple summertime sadness

(but
what happens
when the weather turns
again?)