Saturday, November 1, 2008

My ideal state

Sitting outside Rue de la Course on a Saturday morning drinking iced coffee, eating pain au chocolat, and smoking a cigarette; wrapped in a sweatercoat and wearing a beret against the chill of the morning and the icedness of the coffee but quickly warming up in the Louisiana sun, the same sun that shines on the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea and makes them tropical; having spoken probably 20 words all morning and feeling wonderfully solitary as I read the New Yorker; listening to the Spanglish chatter of some 30-something artists with a little kid ("Isa! Ven aca!") at the next table; watching people hurrying along Magazine Street amidst the ruins of last night to start a new day and a new month and a new season, carrying newspapers and groceries and flowers to put on graves for All Saints Day and Día de los muertos.

<3 New Orleans.