travel

January 30, 2026

/ HJ / Leave a comment

what a crazy day
was today
was this morning;
waking up at 4
to get out the door before 5
to arrive deep into new jersey just after 6
so kip could be in delaware for a meeting by 8-ish
and i could get home
and get a nap
and be mildly ready for a day
at some point
just to have kip leave delaware at noon
be in a car then on a train around 2
and get back to me just before 3
to get home
take the dog out
and crash and burn
because
even with naps
and exercise
and relatively chill commutes,
the change in sleep schedule really really really
took it out of us
and we were dead to the world
by 6:30pm
[but didn’t want to go to bed
for fear of freaking out our bodies’ rhythms
a second evening in a row
so
just go to bed around 9
and be asleep by 10
and maybe the 6:00 alarm
will come in handy
on tomorrow’s saturday
morning

November 21, 2025

/ HJ / Leave a comment

the morning poetry
still in the morning
still in the morning
as my father waters all his plants
and as the puppy gets into trouble
in the kitchen
the kitchen of my childhood
which only looks half like it did
in my childhood
and i have already scoped through the dozens
perhaps hundreds
of articles of clothing i still have in this house
to see if anything
still slaps

and now my father is done with the plants
and is playing with the puppy
like he had promised her
and i can see into the dining room
as they play
and play and play
and i think it’s
almost
as good as me bringing him
a grandchild
to play with

[maybe
maybe
maybe when our country
isn’t trying to literally kill
anyone who isn’t a
cis
straight
white
upper class
christian
man

maybe then
we’ll bring him one]

November 20, 2025

/ HJ / Leave a comment

evening poems
while william shatner
tells me all the unexplained mysteries
i should care about

but i simply
don’t

~~~

big yawns
and split-up sleep
and hopefully getting
the cat to eat
or take her meds
at least

[almost done with this trip
and i’m so excited to sleep
in my own bed
once again]

~~~

but seeing people has been absolutely lovely —
i wouldn’t exchange that
for anything

[even eight uninterrupted hours]

November 18, 2025

/ HJ / Leave a comment

what a nightmare
of a night
what with screaming cats
and whining puppies
and keeping us up all night
[especially when we were both so excited
to go to sleep so early
and sleep in just a bit]
but
but
but
however
i’d rather have these animals
and have them interrupt our sleeps
with their hassles
than not have them at all
and that’s the truth

[damn, love is crazy]

July 21, 2025

/ HJ / Leave a comment

we are now at the state
of being home around a week
i’m getting farther and farther away from
being able to say
“i just got back from Europe”

i’m soon going to have to use terms like
“recently”
and then “last month”
and “earlier this year”

i just want to keep saying “just”

it helps with the fact that
my brain is still 100%
in Europe

July 18, 2025

/ HJ / Leave a comment

my shirt
still kind of smells
like all the memories
made
in Europe

unfortunately
it’s all the mundane
or slightly grungy memories
that this scent evokes

walking and walking and walking
in shirts i’d already maybe worn twice
mixing sweat with deodorant
with sunscreen
with city

i washed this shirt well
put it through an extra rinse and everything

i guess when a trip gets into the fibers of clothing
it’s sort of like a city getting into your own bones

it just won’t go
away on its own

July 15, 2025

/ HJ / Leave a comment

how come i am so hyper-aware
of every moment in time
and how they will become memories
in the next moment

so much so that, even trying to experience them, i am often thinking
fifteen minutes[at least] into the future

i feel like i was barely in the moment
of looking forward to this trip
and only in it
for half a second
and now i’m back
and looking back on
experiences i know took time to have
but now they live only in my
memory