the city is an ambiguous thing

a mass

a place to be gotten to

but not necessarily understood

or remembered

intimately

like a person living there

able to sit in their apartment

with their eyes closed

and imagine walking on the sidewalk

in any direction

and seeing the storefronts

and usual coffee shop

and even the imagining the worn chair

on the second level

where one usually sits

—the city becomes

a place lived in and known

rather than a general black mass

holding a spot on the map

that one reads

for places imagined

rather than places traveled

and even if you have visited

once or twice

and remember specific places

like what a specific room feels like

the sense of knowing the whole city

and the places you can possibly go

and how to give directions

and where to lead newcomers when they ask

only comes with time