Noise and Crush

[Cita]

I drink coffee outside my hotel room, looking up at the faded green building with white trim that rises into the sky, and I am not from here, not from this place of noise and crush.

I wonder who lives in the rooms, in the skyscrapers full of people, wonder about those who live above the streets, what kind of sheets and do they soak in hot baths or ever smell of sweat and dirt?

I can see their crystal and hear their clear music and smell the lemon oil on their gleaming tables and taste the pizza with pesto from the sidewalk cafe, feel the heat of coffee in a cardboard cup.

But as they sleep above the sirens, do they dream of heavy ceramic mugs and days at home with sundried laundry and bright scrambled eggs, a day in socked feet and no brisk sidewalks, a day of Scrabble and naps?

How do they find dirt for their plants or an earthworm or a snail or a bat or a garter snake for decoration?

Where do their bees drink?

[Jamie Hogan]

I have spent time in cities and wondered how long those people go without their bare feet touching earth. Not shoes, not bare feet on concrete, but bare feet on grass or dirt. I bet for some of them, it's been years. You're right. You're not from there. And so much the better for us, your readers and fans, that you're not, because we get words like these.

[Mike Handley]

Yes

[Kristine_ES]

YES YES YES!  looking at rooftops and the apartments next door! who are they? are they happy, where do they work, how are their children? what makes them joyful?  i hear ya, lady!

(felt the same after meeting the other half of a family in a NYC hotel, looking across at the other buildings, and wondering all those same things)   wondering, but not written... you said so well!

[Gita]

Love love love love loved this.

"Where do their beed drink?"  IS the question.

fave fave fave

[Cita]

T, this is what happens when I write in my journal, stream of consciousness, and then pull it out later.  I couldn't resist the streets/sheets thing that came straight off the page.  Can't take credit for some things... when I write RIGHT AFTER I wake up, still in bed, still warm under the sheets, before coffee, good things happen.

[Teresa]

God I love this.  The "noise and crush" is brilliant.  And I adore the placement of assonance:  "...above the streets, what kind of sheets..." and "...Scrabble and naps?" and "...bees drink?"  You rock.