I hated you at first
I couldn't sleep through the night
No semblance of dread
But strange flashes of light
Dark grey and mauve walls
White cobwebs and all
Create a locus of triumph and defeat
Too much has gone by in a single empty space
That stands in the way of an unfettered escape
Imagine the pull gravitational cosmos
Every morning and afternoon
Anxiety en route
I turn my head each way to look at you
Think of the guts destroyed
The teeming overrun milieu
"Amid so much open land there seemed to be no space that met their criteria of 'civilized urbanity'. Los Angeles, for all its fleshpots and enchantments, was experienced as a cultural antithesis to nostalgic memories of pre-fascist Berlin or Vienna...Los Angeles became increasingly symbolized as the 'anti-city', a Gobi of suburbs."¹