Friday, December 19, 2008

In One Block

You can go hours without saying a word
You suspect that, without interruption,
You can go days.
You have surprisedyourselfNO You have amazed yourself.

You thought you had a greater need to speak.

That if no one hears you You aren't alive.
But hours go by without the need without the want without even the thought
To speak.

You walk into the cold bright city at night.
You emerge from the subway.
You emerge from The Underground.
The city is loud.
You love how loud the city is.
It complements how quiet You have become.
You have astonished yourself with your quiet.
With your Still.

The snowflakes slap your face and the wind rushes down Sixth Avenue and you feel like your in a canyon and even though your surrounded by the noise of New York You Yourself are so quiet inside that you can imagine that you are the last one on Earth You are The It You are The Only One And you feel like your in a canyon!

And you think of David.

Because you're not in a canyon.
You are a block from Times Square.
But You know that if you walk down Sixth till 6th turns into something else -you don't remember what but something else- the streets really start to twist on each other down there.

Down in the guts of the city.
Where Wall Street is.
Those streets
Are actually called
The Canyons.
David told you that.
Back in that other life when You lived in Florida.
You and David were talking and he thought back to his other life when he lived in New York. He remembered that they called Wall Street and all those other streets whose names, he couldn't remember and You didn't know yet to forget,
They called those streets
The Canyons.

He remembered that.
He lived that life and then He told you about it.
And when he told you about the Canyons
You felt like a wise man had told you a secret.
You felt good and You felt welcome.
He may not have told you THE SECRET
Sure.
But he told you A secret
And all things considered, that was pretty good.
Because up till that point David The Wise Man still kind of intimidated you.
And you weren't all together certain that he enjoyed your company but now he had reminisced with you and he had shared one of his other lives with you and you have other lives yourself so you know what a kind gift that is to share
.

All those lives.

And a snow flake slaps you in the face
The wind rushing down 7th Ave now.
And you are no longer in a canyon.
You are in the eye of a hurricane.
New York is So Loud.
And You Are Still.
A thousand lives inside your mind.
A thousand lives swirling stirring your soul.
A thousand lives and
You Cry when you see a Couple Kiss.
A thousand lives remembered
And a thousand lives to live
A thousand lives in One Block!
And You.

You. haven't. said. a. word.

3 comments:

  1. Hi Josh, thanks for linking up to the Indie Travel Podcast - great to have you listening mate. Travel on...

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  2. I feel like choosing a place to live is a lot like choosing the right person to marry. You really have to find a place that complements who you are as a person. And every time I read your entries, I think how perfectly New York complements you.

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  3. You were born to live in New York, weren't you? I love your style.

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