Coffee and Creativity

Today was fabulous and felt like quintessential LA living.

I spent a couple of hours in a coffee shop (Solar de Cahuenga--anyone in the Hollywood area should check this place out) working on poetry, one of my novels, and just soaking in the caffeine and creativity.

My delicious Solar Latte (I don't exactly remember what was in it, chai, espresso, lots of cinnamon, some soy milk, whatever it was it was sooo good)

The following poem is one that I wrote today. It's a mixture of melancholy and madness, excitement and whimsy. There are so many emotions and experiences that accompany living in and moving to a big city, and I tried to imagine and capture some of these sensations. The past couple of weeks have been such a whirlwind, and it's been--and continues to be--incredible. Having my entire future open and in front of me is an overwhelming and amazing feeling, and I can't wait to continue my adventures in this city!

city sickness

The streets spin her,

The traffic pantomimes her blood flow

Hot and wild, rattling in the bone cages

A cityscape spackled onto pavement

Like debris deposited by the gods

Glowing bright enough to shroud the stars

She spills into the canyons

Swollen feet from chasing daydreams

The depravity and desperation

An addiction she can’t quell

Muffled in caffeine, counting out the stoplights

Tomorrow’s panic-attack spewing diesel down her neck

The sun smears itself onto the window

She silhouettes herself, slitting the curtains

But engorged by her potential she slams forward

Locomotive and lusting

While the city sips her sadness

Past parking meters, over rotting balconies

To the top of the world,

A warm afternoon, skyscrapers silken in the haze

It’s a long way down,

Should she regress to girl-hood

Back to suburbia and one hundred-degree summers

The past surges until it bursts

Against the curvature

Her cheeks burnt from all the brightness

The panorama, so far away, so far below,

Feels like her future,

And she wonders whether she might fold it

Into a paper plane, close her eyes, and let it fly.