wild

October 11, 2026

/ HJ / Leave a comment

yesterday, we met
a prehensile-tailed porcupine
named Bruce Quillis
a hog island boa
named Wilbur
a common raven
named Waggles
a binturong
named Kevin
and an african giant pouched rat
named Hemlock

and when asked which animal was my favorite
i talked about getting emotional when in the same room as a raven
and how cool it was that i got to meet an animal
from a species i hadn’t even heard of
until that moment
and that i have a special place in my heart
for all snakes
especially ones i get to pet
and that the porcupine was so adorable and clingy
with its owner, and i couldn’t get over that
and that, of course, i thought that rat
was so darn cute
and so darn smart

and then i took a moment
and noted that i had just talked about
every single one of the animals we had met

because of course i did

because i love all animals

and i can never pick just one favorite

even in a wild encounter.

September 18, 2026

/ HJ / Leave a comment

i am so in love
with non-human persons
the animal companions we keep with us
the wild ones where i may never meet them
but i can watch on videos and capture
the tiniest portion of their soul to intermingle with my soul
for a tiny portion of time
and then let them go

the languages they speak without language
the emotions they express through their bodies and eyes
the understanding i think we share
but the knowledge that it may be my own inferences
my own imaginings
my own human narrative
and not reality
that i’m picking up on

it is humbling

it is momentous

it is a way to live in the moment
and stop thinking of oneself
and instead think about
connection

i am so in love with
the creatures on this planet
and i hope to someday connect with
and see the personness inside
and hear the breathing of
the trees and flowers and soil underground
in the same way i can with those with eyes

[i think all i have to do
is listen]

August 1, 2026

/ HJ / Leave a comment

the coyotes howl
and yip
and screech a bit
and there’s definitely more than three or four of them
and i’ve never experienced coyotes in a group, the
extent of my wild sighting(s) was
mangy
sick
solitary
scrounging around
barely alive
barely surviving
i thought the first one was a
sickly domesticated dog, until i described it to my dad
and he said
“coyote.
definitely.”

but these seemed wild and vital and collective
and though we howled back
[probably stupidly, as humans do]
we just wanted to hear them
again and again and again
for it was something few of us had ever experienced before
and might never again
and i hope nature is healing in ways
we might not be able to even see, because we are observing
[almost]
every
single
way
we’re fucking it up,
and having hope would be
fucking fantastic for my mental health
and for the physical health of
literally every living being on the planet
and the planet itself
so i hope for hope
which, definitionally is a hope itself
and in this moment it was sparked by the first wild howl
of a family of coyotes
i have ever
ever
ever heard

June 15, 2021

/ HJ / Leave a comment

figuring out our foundations;
both of us grew up
just outside of a suburban border
(not quite country)
and staying in green
with bugs
and wildlife
and stars and sky
feels so good

but also,
after a year and a half in The City
(The City that Never Sleeps, The Big Apple, The Greatest City in the World)
we can’t imagine living anywhere else.
we would miss the convenience of walking to get everywhere,
an actually useful public transportation system,
the resilience of all the people,
observing those completely unlike you
(and seeing dozens of people exactly like you,
no matter how unique you think you are)

(how quickly New York steals your heart)