The Big Apple

There's never been a place that has so much want. A want to exist rooted so deep and tenaciously. Yes, I want to exist right here right now! I dare you to topple these dreams! It's in the brown eyes embedded in wrinkles, and the blue eyes behind dark locks dripping with sweat. It's in the turquoise reflection of the sunset on strapping young office buildings, and the rain stains on the mortar grooves between the bricks of brownstones that look on longingly. The ladders are clearer than ever here, between me and you, between Houston and 110th. It calls out to me, ‘climb!’ in the way a maze calls out to the mouse. I come back to the city always. My hatred and lust cling to the gaps between buildings, cars, and grates the way the grime clings to gaps in the tile. It is a place that will have known more pain than I, always. It will always understand. Being down here reminds us of where I'll stay if I don't want badly enough. It reminds me of my place in this world where I bow down to my dreams.