Dear Vancouver

I've often thanked the cosmos
for the existence of you. If it
weren't for you, I don't think
I would've survived college.
It's true, I spent as many nights
feeling unwelcome in the world
in Vancouver as I did anywhere
else. But you always held this
tantalizing potential for me,
dreams of gorgeous people and
fine homes and mild everything.
And many once-in-a-lifetime
events did in fact transpire under
your auspices, my engagement,
music shows that altered my view of
the world, the taking of my disease
down a notch or two. I don't think
there's a thing you could do to
make me hate you. I've had to fight
hard to get to you at times. I'd gladly
do it again and again, if only
for a week at a time. Turns out
my lot in life is such that I could
never be one of your denizens--
but I would be if I could be,
in a heartbeat I would. You
know as well as I that some of
the best relationships are founded
on an enticement which is
forever constant but never fulfilled.
I adore your underbelly most of all,
the downtown east side, worst
Skid Row I've ever seen and I
always feel right at home.
I'm hopelessly in love with you,
really, senselessly and unabashedly.
I thought I'd write just to make it
clear, Vancouver: I'm yours.
Treat me any old way you want.
Invite me for a fling even just
once a year and I'll be happy.
I don't need a mouthful--
a simple spoonful will do. And
bit by bit, one bite at a time, one
way or another, I will consume you.
I promise. Even after all these years,
I'm still in that love-affair stage with
you. We should see if we can't
get onto more solid ground,
you know, not so one-sided, not
only about your splendor. I mean,
at some point, a man starts asking,
"What about me? Don't I count
for something?" Not really, I can
hear you saying. That's fine by me.
I've lived with worse. You probably
know this, but I always tell folks
I really do have an actual human
lover up there, I mean, that's
the way I really see it. You and I
are going down in history as
having had the first tempestuous and
verifiable love affair between a man and
a city, whether the world's ready for it or not.
See you in a few months.
All my love, Adam

(2007)