Imagine…

You are seated outside at the World’s Cafe. Your waiter approaches with a tab. But where should be food and drink listed, are your life’s worries instead.

The troubles magnify on the paper,
Anxieties intensify as you read,
Growing stronger each passing second,
Planted by some invisible seed.

You thought you could escape the hassle
By wining and dining somewhere nice.
But now your worries are listed on a lunch tab-
Each solution marked with a set price…

[Enter, stage left: FRIEND #1. He sits at the next table over from you, picks up a menu, opens it and, without looking at you, speaks].

“So this one’s gonna be on me,
Don’t give that bill another care.
I’ve had some good fortune as of late-
Now have got some extra to spare. 

[FRIEND #1 looks over at you as he closes his menu. His gaze is warm, yet purposeful, making his persona remain vividly clear as the remainder of the café and seated guests appear now in a haze.  Their image continues to blur in comparison to the man’s striking clarity].

“I see you’re having an ‘off’ day
I can reset that for you-
Let you recharge and restart
Til your energy reboots.  

[FRIEND #1 stands up and sits opposite you.  His posture is comfortable, his actions familiar, as if he has taken the chair across from you at another meal.  The blurred quality of the café’s surroundings intensifies, transforming guests into characters from a Monet watercolor, until all at once, they disappear, leaving empty tables in utter stillness.  FRIEND #1 speaks]. 

“This one’s on me now.
I’ll take today’s bill,
I’ll shoulder your worries,
Until inner storms quell.  

[FRIEND #1 rests hand on check].

“You worry about your health,
Your test, your career.
Put those fears aside
[FRIEND #1 reaches hand across table and takes yours].
I am with you, my dear.

[FRIEND #1 looks down at his bare wrist.  You watch as a ray of sunlight reflects through his water glass and onto his arm, producing the magical illusion of a shining golden watch where before was bare skin].

“There’s plenty of time left-
Life’s watch did not break.
You are on the right track.
You will not arrive late.

[FRIEND #1 leans his head back toward the sky.  He inhales deeply.  As he draws in new air, the clouds move in compliance with his breath’s request.  They float backwards and forwards as he inhales and exhales their fate’s direction].

“Stop to take a deep breath.
Just smile at the clouds.
Soak in the quiet moment.
Anticipate the loud.  

[FRIEND #1 pauses, leans earnestly forward again.  His gaze is intent.  His connection is only to you.  He whisperingly implores].

“Then trust your thoughts to me
Though you may feel scared.
I know your thoughts are fragile-
I will handle them with care. 

[FRIEND #1 draws cash from his pocket, as the hustle and bustle of the surrounding environment slowly returns.  A waiter drops a fork; a guest’s water glass clinks against her ceramic plate; a laugh floats over the crowd from a distant table].

“Dare to de-stress
For one moment or two.
Smile an extra smile.
Let laughter renew.  

[FRIEND #1 stands up and walks back to his own table.  The café is just as it was in the beginning.  FRIEND #1 sips on a glass of water, lemon wedge floating inside].

“For life often serves you lemons
Instead of sweet lemonade,
So today just tell your waiter
To pass the check my way.  

[FRIEND #1 reaches out open hand, asking for the check].

“Send your worries on over
Dare to be stress-free.
I brought some extra cash-
This one’s on me.”

——

This poem/post/story is one of those random products of a daydream that was lucky to meet with enough intentionality to actually be recorded in the endless storage space of my computer.  It has been in that hard drive for a few weeks already, so I thought it was at last a good time to make its “public” appearance.  One of the stranger things I have written over the years- I don’t even know if it is a poem, a play, or just an intermittently interrupted string of thoughts.  But all-in-all, those titles don’t actually matter here.  After all, if it’s something I feel like sharing while at a coffeehouse, I suppose it has every right to start a Coffeehouse Conversation.

This post is dedicated to all of my friends- here is a short daydream to break up the day’s reality. 🙂

I created this blog a few weeks ago and since then have been wondering what on earth I should put up as my first post.  Though I began this site as a space to which I can commit my ideas, my writings, and my thoughts, setting pen to paper (even fingertips to keyboard) has been incredibly difficult.  I hope to discover and share some insights into the communities around me and the people and ideas that inspire me, but I suppose in order to start doing that, I literally need to start.

That’s when I came across this: a poem that I had written back in 2010 during my undergrad at UCLA.  It seems strange to think that this was 4 YEARS ago.  Time passes so quickly, but what’s absolutely fascinating to me is the continuity of ideas over time.  I wrote this 4 years ago, and upon discovering it again in my email’s “sent” box, I wasn’t sure with how much of the rambling poem’s sentiments I still agreed.  Then I read it again.  The words pulled thoughts, feelings from somewhere in the back of my consciousness up to the forefront of my mind- ideas that I used to know, beliefs I used to hold so dearly.  In a way, my past self is instructing my current self on how to think, presenting my current mind with my own forgotten ideas, and allowing me to now decide all over again how true these past theories ring.

This is why I would like to record my thoughts.  This is a live journal, an open forum for my present self to instruct my future self.  Not all the posts will be self-reflections.  Many will be explorations of all that is around me.  But some “diary” entries are worth recording, if only to provide some food-for-thought for those future “selves” out there in tomorrow-land and to see which ideas truly stand the test of time.

Marbles

I don’t want to give up my naïveté;

I don’t want to give up the comfort,

The peace I have always known.

People see it as oblivion, as innocence-

Even as ignorance…

But I don’t see it as a bad thing-

Not completely at least…

I find that the naïveté spurs confidence,

Drives dreams-

It creates that perfect world-

Even if only one theoretical-

Where anything is possible,

Where everything is possible.

No one thinks of stopping a child

From dreaming of a happy future…

At what age must he grow up?

At what age must he end his dream-

Recognize it as impractical, unrealistic, ridiculous-

Allow reality to absorb such visions

Further and deeper:

Marbles rolling down a funnel-

Their paths’ radii shortening- soon to reach zero-

Soon to be nonexistent-

Soon to no longer be worth mentioning…

There is no excuse for ignorance-

For blind oblivion;

But an argument remains for its counterpart:

If a goal is strong enough to drive a being,

To fulfill potential, to pursue worldwide interests, global needs,

Does it matter that its roots originated in a young child’s dream?

Who would tell him, then, that he was naïve?