I’m going to miss this city in all its grimy, loud, hustle & bustle splendor. New York is all I know. I’ve never lived anywhere longer than I have here. I was born here over 30 years ago in the borough of Brooklyn & have spent the last 13 years on this island of Manhattan. I love this city with all of my heart & all of my soul. It is in my blood & now that I am about to leave it for who knows how long for the first time ever, I am taking in every moment, every person I see, every street I walk, as if it were my last…

I will return soon enough, but there’s just this gravitational pull that keeps me from wanting to leave at all. I know that sunny Los Angeles beckons me & my future, but somehow, I never want to leave my past nor my present.

6 years ago, I swore I’d never leave this place. I would die here. Perhaps I still will. For now, however, it seems that I will make another city my maiden - one whose roads I will wander at the wheel of an automobile, isolated from all those around me. A world where image rules & substance is lacking. Will I survive there despite the fact that I’ve survived in one of the toughest cities on this planet? The irony is that I am so accustomed to the ways of this metropolis that I wonder whether or not I will fit in in Hollywood?

Every time I walk a street,

I know not if it is my last,

For years with every heartbeat,

This city has consumed my past,

Although my future lies by the palms & beaches,

I shall soon return to this city & its outer reaches.