Love letter to Portland, Oregon
Aug. 3rd, 2003 06:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
birdspiritlandI miss Portland. I haven't really been there and spent some time with her for weeks. Mostly, it's been because I simply haven't had time to get there, what with work, RPGs, and dealing with personal stuff. But ever since I got to know the city, I've been in love with her. She pulses in the lower parts of my brain, always there but not surfacing until we meet. I love to roam her streets late at night, or in the afternoon on an overcast day. I'm part of her, even if I don't really live there.
If I treat her like a lover, my relationship with the nearest Big City really comes alive. I'll just hop a random bus, and discover something about her, some secret little shop or memory that I've never seen in her before. Yes, she can be hostile, or rough, but that's part of her appeal. I sincerely believe that the last great truly undiscovered wilderness lies in our cities and in the last vestiges of true nature outside it. But the city is the wilderness that at present intoxicates me. I'm tempted to do a version of what Thoreau did--rent an apartment for a year or so and just watch the teeming organism made up of smaller organisms moving around me.
I try hard not to romanticize any area, whether it be urban, rural, or wild. But I'm in love with Portland, so some romance is necessary.
If I treat her like a lover, my relationship with the nearest Big City really comes alive. I'll just hop a random bus, and discover something about her, some secret little shop or memory that I've never seen in her before. Yes, she can be hostile, or rough, but that's part of her appeal. I sincerely believe that the last great truly undiscovered wilderness lies in our cities and in the last vestiges of true nature outside it. But the city is the wilderness that at present intoxicates me. I'm tempted to do a version of what Thoreau did--rent an apartment for a year or so and just watch the teeming organism made up of smaller organisms moving around me.
I try hard not to romanticize any area, whether it be urban, rural, or wild. But I'm in love with Portland, so some romance is necessary.
