The Japantown Letters Table of Contents 01 Berryessa 02 Red’s Place 03 Fog Harbor Fish House 04 1 Sansome 05 Washington and Drumm 06 Steps of Rome 07 Upper Tenderloin 08 Avalon x Athens 09 Stonestown 10 Union Square 11 SFO 12 The 500 Club 13 Madeleine’s Apartment 14 Lefty O’Doul Bridge 15 SOMA 16 Persia x Madrid 17 Far East Flea Market 18 Harrison Street 19 The Painted Ladies 20 Forbidden City 21 Kite Hill 22 Seal Rock Drive 23 Cayuga Park 24 Cedar Market 25 The Valencia Corridor Acknowledgment s + Author Biography Berryessa I watched you shimmy in the half - light all night I don’t want to see the news anymore is there any way I can go blind just for tonight sitting in your driveway listening to song after song you’re telling me your life story I’m enraptured that was the day before all the power went out in the city & everybody’s cell phones died I thought about the songs and the life story and the shimmy You said I was different because I actually listened You said everybody else takes that for granted I nodded and I nodded yes you’re right you told me you were taking off to Colorado Springs but it’s only for a week and if I was still around you’d bring me back a breath of snowy air Red’s Place You give negative f**ks about what they think and I’m kinda digging that right now I was like - you mind if I play some Stones nah, yeah, go ahead, you said I put on Jumpin’ Jack Flash because I like the way you dance to that song you do this little Mick thing super cute but I know better than to tell you that tonight you have other alignments you don’t make mistakes but how about when you kissed me on accident? You said you loved me and I was dumb enough to believe you or maybe I just wanted to for t hat tiny milisecond Baby, don’t play any Stones tonight play some Lana did you know I heard your song on the radio in the cab over? not a bad tune tell me really you never kiss on accident Fog Harbor Fish House You’re the matches to my ashes sometimes, I don’t want perfect it bothers me and you said it was such an ugly pen I said those are the ones that write beautiful things we half - laughed & you wondered if I was actually serious I can see the Moon moving through your mind and all of the lines that you quote I swear I read them or I wrote them and when you leave the sky is useless to me I woke up wearing nothing but your dreams yeah, your smirk gave it all away & it pulverizes me you broke me down into decimals and I can’t thank you enough ho ld me close and feel my heart skipping a beat now I think of you every 11:11 all my stamps are upside - down for you it’s ok, you don’t have to write me back and maybe just maybe it becomes my mantra you bury me with an eyelash 1 Sansome The train sounds across this sleeping city well, really, it’s more of a town some days it’s roses, some days it’s thorns and that night you went clickity - clack on my type - writer and in the morning you wouldn’t show me what you wrote I never told you it didn’t matter because if I really wanted to know I could read the ribbon in reverse from the chorus back to the verse but I don’t & I won’t well, at least not tonight but I reserve the right and the train horn blows through the empty souls living on the out - skirts of the night binary birdsongs in the digital dawn some days it’s vine, some nights it’s the wine you lost me on the balcony thanking my lucky stars we ran so fast to our regrets bummimg cigarettes sparing one every time we could you never told me that it didn’t matter and it never could because I have all your dreams down here you reverse the ribbon and that night comes alive again Washington and Drumm I wouldn’t dare read your notebook on a Friday night by Sunday I wouldn’t know who I was any more you always show me the new thing it’s usually pretty old and you weren’t any good in the morning I think you were a bit out of tune but who am I to say? you played oblivion by grimes and I just had to stay up until daylight it was also very strange you & your screwdriver I didn’t know you drank vodka you said I don’t - and then you drank it all down and I wondered if I had enough to take the tram like maybe a bit sharp, no? you were so brilliant & simple you didn’t even blink when they threw wreaths at your feet and now I’m wondering if I got it wrong all along don’t bring me flowers plant one in my heart Steps of Rome Stuck in this buzz I set the table I made my bed but I didn’t eat and I couldn’t sleep I lost my grace I lost my faith & no one hates me more than I do right now I ghost myself until the sun rose over Sunset & Vine so, rewind that night - I often do in the hours beyond midnight I regret that fight I usually do until far past daylight my pen runs dry so I grab another you are my train of thought I wish my mind would blink because before the birds begin chirping all I do is think my wine glass laughs at me because I’m jealous of the blankets that are prolly covering you right now as I conjure up ways to recover from you somehow I’m not one for closing ceremonies I thought they were stars but they were just asteriks and I won’t stop until the mountains know our names Upper Tenderloin How far back do you really wanna go? only a few centuries ago and by the end of the night you were in an altogether different state I don’t know why you were sweating me down every once in a while a night like this happens and everything goes down I got burned & you jumped into the fire you used to call me by my middle name if you’re going to heaven you gotta break a few clouds Avalon x Athens You know when you're in the groove it's in your every move the gold flakes in your lipstick the black kohl around your eyes forever in half the time I was so tough until I felt your touch you nearly cracked the bones in my chest thank G od my rib cage held but we're not talking about that tonight, right you'll be hard to delete meet me at Athens x Avalon Hell and high water do I make myself clear? the stars never leave the sky you were in the groove & I should write myself a letter to remind me of when times were better Stonestown I shudder when I think of how close we came to never falling in love & how close I was that one night to walking out on you for good you wore Kevlar around your heart while you ashed in mine I tried to laugh it off and drink your wine I suppose it goes to show I can play dumb when I want to at THE PARTY you were talking to him behind the ice machine and then when you asked what’s wrong I said...absolutely nothing and somehow, it all just works out for you, doesn’t it? you have this whole Ferris thing going on I signed my holographic will over to you and the heat of the moment only had half to do with it I’d be a fool to blame you for anything that’d be like fist - fighting ghosts so far, they’ve won Round One so burn this poem and bury me beneath your grave I can handle the soot you carried my carcass across the chorus oh, you made my heart flutter like an acoustic hummingbird so much so that even before the morning the stars, well, they burned me out I just had to know -- what’s below oblivion? Union Square I trace your scars as you tell me the story she says: until you have a child you are a child and they’ve all got their parables one day, all you have left is the voicemail and a grainy photograph on your cellular I trace the stars in your eyes and everyone has a sad story to sell can’t even make change for a penny it’s safe to say I’ve been there myself and every time, I say to myself I’m never getting this down again and then, there I go again touching your face on my phone like a letter lost in the mail that’s my parab le but just know, just know all my stamps were upside down for you if that still means anything to you, child SFO I crushed up all your pills hoping this time that would be it but God condemned me to wake up another day I never take the window seat I don’t want to see the mountains hills or patches of land I never even breathe until we land I hit the bar & take my mind off airplane mode you text me a song and I order 2 drinks at once I add it to my playlist and think of everything you ever said all at once I like to travel light without even a thought I lick the stamps at the bar & send you off the postcards that I bought I got baked in the bathroom and swallowed the smoke I turn off my location I just want to float and when a stranger lit my cigarette I felt even stranger yet thought to myself - I bet that’ll make a great couplet The 500 Club You can take all my money, hun it wouldn’t matter none to me so long as I can be your company that’s good enough for me You toss me off the bridge well, it wouldn’t be the first time I just had to breathe for myself I don’t mind treading water for you You understand me beneath the glitter and the stones & the waves that wash away our bones Some nights, of course, I’d like to forget but you were so remarkable almost unrelateable you sank ink into my lungs I took the plunge and by the morning I was a carbon copy of a photocopy Let me make this easy for you you stamp my passport into outer space every single time I see your face I wish I had more grace you load me up and then you fire me off you see the bridge and then you push me off I guess that must be the cost Madeleine's Apartment Burgundy velvet crush all the stars blush above us you should kiss me more I adore when you say you love me more good morning, gorgeous tell me all your dreams in our last invincible summer half - way through the field you held my hand for the first time my butterflies began to roar you speak with your shoulders I can decipher your semaphores we are two notes in the same beautiful chord Lefty O'Doul Bridge It took me years to hear the sound of the train and not think of you you didn’t give me the chance to explain it was a friend of a friend I was dreaming in cobble stones and rotary phones you bring me the tiniest flower you were always so good to me that’s why I adore you I fawn over you until you’re blushing and push me back I take it as a dare hey, make me a playlist of your saddest songs those are the ones I want to know in our last invincible summer half - way through the field you he ld my hand for the first time my butterflies began to roar you speak with your shoulders I can decipher your semaphores we are two notes in the same beautiful chord SOMA Burgundy velvet crush life is so lush especially when you’re flush the angels blush above us You should kiss me more I adore when you say you love me more Oh my lips are sore but you should still kiss me more And without giving too much away all I wanted to say was – stay but if today’s the day you go away you leave a darkness in me that’ll never go away You should kiss me more I simply adore when you say you love me more Oh my lips are sore you should still kiss me more Burgundy velvet crush life is so lush especially when you’re flush all the stars sigh above us Persia x Madrid I don’t remember how it started it might have been me good morning, gorgeous tell me all your dreams before you step out into that boulevard I just had to make a playlist about you I had it all planned out all I had to do was shut my big stupid mouth aw, screw it I mean everyone freezes around us when you look in my eyes and you say I should have stayed longer I should have prayed harder you know I like waiting for you history is so predictable it’s such a slow burn they’re called belligerents you cut me off - why, I haven’t even gotten to the 18 th Century and you make a pla ylist out of me Shazzaming on the side and everything freezes around us and every one goes to ice the sun doesn’t even see me and I do all this dancing and the summer repeats tonight The City is all mine see you along the coast in the morning no one’ll ever even miss us I lit your cigarette but don’t blame me for everything we were bound to happen you were blowing smoke rings and we laughed until we were holding hands Far East Flea Market You catch my eyes and that’s how symphonies are born I could have gone my whole life without seeing your freckles but that wouldn’t have been living at all you’re so beautiful that I go to shambles I see you’ve changed your signature she’s more of a controlled burn I shower to the playlist you sent me I said it once but I thought it one thousand times your mind is such predictive text and your dreams AI in the morning I swear you wrote me once I still have it I keep it closer than anyt hing in this damn world your hologram landed on me like a feather couldn’t have been better I love watching you swirl maybe that’s why maybe that’s why I love you and all your tulips turn to stone and cut my heart right to the bone Harrison Street If I had a million dollars I’d give you half + then I’d spend my half and ask you for a dime You used to write me checks I collected them like stamps one day I tore them all up never even worth a damn You are so darling you are so darling to me