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Human in the LoopJonathan Harrell’s Commonplace Book

Commonplaces

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  • She waved at them and spoke
    through me, fogging my skin with words I couldn’t hear.
    I wasn’t cold anymore, her breath so warm, her cheek
    pressed against the fragile glass, which was my body. Séance in Daylight by Yuki Tanaka, excerpt

  • Who can blame them for believing
    what they saw? Bodies
    holding each other in the night,
    against the darkness.
    I have no excuse.
    I was there, and I was also dancing. The Inventors by Arielle Hebert, excerpt

  • A surreal and unsettling painting of a humanoid figure with distorted facial features. The face appears melted or deformed, with hollow eye sockets, an asymmetrical mouth, and unusual textures resembling wax or decaying organic matter. The color palette includes muted greens, browns, and hints of white, giving the figure a ghostly, otherworldly appearance. The background is dark and indistinct, adding to the eerie, dreamlike atmosphere.
    But in fact the glorious beings which they had produced were tortured by subtle imperfections beyond their makers’ comprehension, by Adolfo Bimer

  • when I kneel to the well’s sunken eye,
    the cure looks back,
    but those blue eyes aren’t mine. At Gleannagalt by Doireann Ní Ghríofa, excerpt

  • someone wailed & the boy’s mother yells:
    This ain’t justice. You can’t throw my son
    into that fucking ocean.     She meant jail.

    & we was powerless to stop it.
    & too damn tired to be beautiful. For a Bail Denied by Reginald Dwayne Betts, excerpt

  • Cradled now, we sleep the sleep of stones.
    Maybe in twenty centuries you’ll find us here,
    another fetal xenolith waiting to be reborn. Stony Sleep by Dan Albergotti, excerpt

  • And when the jaguar dived beneath me
    and lifted me up into the light
    I clung to his back and rode my life. The River by Pascale Petit, excerpt

  • Rain is the reason, and old pains
    Have emptied the public library so
    That only the bare shelves show Canandaigua by Donald Revell, excerpt

  • A sketchbook-style composition of two tree studies painted in monochrome ink. The left tree is curved and leafy, while the right is bare and upright. Vertical Japanese calligraphy on the right balances the minimalist aesthetic.
    Taiga Hall Painting Album, by Ike no Taiga
    Traditional Chinese-style landscape painting on a book spread, showing misty mountains in the background and a quiet hut nestled among sparse trees in the foreground. Ink washes and delicate brushwork create a sense of serene emptiness and vastness.
    Album of Marvelous Landscapes, by Tanomura Chokunyū
    Five-panel gold screen inscribed with Japanese waka poetry in flowing cursive script. The gentle, wavering brushstrokes evoke a refined atmosphere, typical of classical Japanese courtly style. Each poem is rendered with grace and subtle variation.
    Album of Twelve Waka from Poetry Competition of Poets of Different Eras, by Emperor Go-Yōzei
    Two-panel folding screen featuring bold, freeform Japanese calligraphy in black ink on a shimmering gold background. The brushstrokes are expressive and varied in size, evoking a spontaneous, poetic rhythm. A red seal stamp marks the artist’s signature.
    Five Freestyle Haiku and a Chinese Couplet, by Kawahigashi Hekigotō
    Elegant Chinese cursive script flows down six vertical paper panels mounted on a golden folding screen. The brushwork varies in pressure and fluidity, showcasing the beauty of calligraphy as visual art as well as literature.
    Screens with Chinese Poems, by Ryōkan Taigu

  • A watercolor of Gothic ruins, with tall arched windows opening onto a soft, mossy floor. The crumbling architecture stands in melancholy contrast to the delicate penciled details at the side.
    Monastery Ruins at Oybin, by Caspar David Friedrich
    A pencil and watercolor study of a mossy rock formation in a quiet forest. Gentle shading and notations suggest a contemplative observational study, with trees fading softly into the background.
    Rocks along a Forest Path, by Caspar David Friedrich
    A lone monk stands at the edge of a bleak, wind-swept shore. Above him looms an enormous sky, heavy with mist and sea spray. The figure is dwarfed by the elemental vastness around him.
    Monk by the Sea, by Caspar David Friedrich
    A rugged coastline under a moonlit sky. Waves lap gently under a glowing cloud bank, casting silvery reflections. An abandoned boat lies grounded in the foreground, adding to the stillness.
    The North Sea in Moonlight, by Caspar David Friedrich
    Jagged rock formations rise from the ocean beneath a moonlit sky. The light reflects off calm waters in shifting tones of purple and silver, evoking isolation and majesty.
    Rocky Reef off the Seacoast, by Caspar David Friedrich
    Two cloaked men stand on a wooded ridge, gazing at a crescent moon rising in a dusky sky. Twisting branches frame the scene, evoking a sense of quiet reverence and philosophical contemplation.
    Two Men Contemplating the Moon, by Caspar David Friedrich
    A moody twilight scene with a distant town skyline visible across dark waters. Masts, fishing nets, and boats dot the shore, bathed in pale moonlight that barely pierces the gloom.
    Greifswald in Moonlight, by Caspar David Friedrich
    Sweeping snow-covered plains stretch beneath a wide blue-gray sky. Two distant figures are dwarfed by the expanse, emphasizing the sublime desolation of the northern terrain.
    Northern Landscape, Spring, by Caspar David Friedrich
    A lone traveler in a dark cloak walks a path beside crumbling stone ruins beneath a massive, leafless tree. The sky is heavy with dark storm clouds, and the landscape exudes a haunting stillness, capturing the sublime tension between man and nature.
    Wanderer in the Storm, by Caspar David Friedrich
    A massive dolmen-like boulder rests amid windswept autumn trees under a turbulent sky. The scene feels ancient and brooding, charged with the mystery of nature and time.
    Dolmen in Autumn, by Caspar David Friedrich
    Figures gather atop a grassy hill at twilight, with one man gesturing toward the fading horizon. The sky is streaked with delicate hues of dusk, capturing a sense of longing and transition.
    The Evening Star, by Caspar David Friedrich
    A solitary figure in a red cloak stands before an ancient dolmen in a misty field at twilight. Above, a crescent moon and a single bright star hang in a violet sky. Bare trees curve gently inward, framing the quiet act of contemplation.
    A Walk at Dusk, by Caspar David Friedrich

  • Death doesn’t exist. It never did, it never will. But we’ve drawn so many pictures of it, so many years, trying to pin it down, comprehend it, we’ve got to thinking of it as an entity, strangely alive and greedy. All it is, however, is a stopped watch, a loss, an end, a darkness. Nothing.

    Finished reading: Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury.