Last night I had the most vivid dream. Most of my dreams are fleeting roller coaster rides of color and sound, however last night's dream was a wild ride that had no end, only beginnings.
Los Angeles
The dream started in a city full of dust, houses faded to creamy ivory from the sun, with the sound of roaring metal and silent tumbleweeds of dryer lint. My father brings me to his new home, a dilapidated rooming house with creaking floors and sunlight full of dust. He has my dogs with him, and in my heart I am sad he is in this house.
The next moment I am eating a rich peach pie, slowly rising up on an escalator, into a man's arms. In my dream we are a new couple, still discovering the inner workings of each other. As we lay on a bed looking up into the sky, I think of my father and the dogs. I feel free of the past and look up into the sky. He laughs and I close my eyes.
I am in a room full of people, we are sitting waiting for the cleansing earthquake that is about to hit Los Angeles. We expect the usual shaking, the shifting of debris, the shucking off of loose ends. The view we watch is the downtown skyline. The city starts to shake, and then shake even harder. We are all screaming because it is beyond what we expected. I pull a young woman under a blanket and we poke our heads out to watch the city bloom into a dusty roaring rose. The city vibrates like a stop action film, jerking with no syncopation or solid jazz beat.
My father appears and tells me the dogs are dead and that he is moving on. I am relieved that he is not in the rooming house, he says he is disappointed in this city, that it could destroy itself so quickly. I come to a different conclusion, that it is on a constant wheel of revival that brings new life and a new timeline. A new life awaits everyday in Los Angeles for those who are willing to shift the ground beneath them.
Cities in Dust
Artist(Band):Siouxsie and the Banshees
Water was running; children were running
You were running out of time
Under the mountain, a golden fountain
Were you praying at the Lares shrine?
But ohh oh your city lies in dust, my friend
ohh oh your city lies in dust, my friend
We found you hiding, we found you lying
Choking on the dirt and sand
Your former glories and all the stories
Dragged and washed with eager hands
But ohh oh your city lies in dust, my friend
ohh oh your city lies in dust, my friend
your city lies in dust
Image: Ophelia Chong / Fanning the Flames
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There's so much to be said for tapping into a mind as smart and as deep as that of Ophelia Chong. Thanks for sharing this with us and I look forward to seeing what's next. (And 1UP for the SATB love!)
Earthquakes shake up the world around us, destroy the comfort of our lives and force us to reconsider everything around us. They are a perfect metaphor for change in Los Angeles, a city known for its reinvention and rebirths. But how do you stop people from changing too much? Maybe an earthquake does not call for a new life, but only a realization.
Dear Derrick,
Oh shucks. Back at you. :O) ophelia