11 Incredible Letters

I love this sign.  I love it very much.  One of the many afterlife options I'm hoping for includes me walking (well, if it's heaven let's say flying instead) ... so I fly into this room and there is this sign. And I do this.

I am embarrassed to say I took this picture yesterday on my first visit ever to City Lights Bookstore, the city's icon for evocative words.  I promise it will not be 4 years until I go back. The location is at "the nexus of North Beach and Chinatown." Which is so fitting.  Many people who visit SF comment on how bizarre it is to be walking among dried fish and hanging poultry and then cross the street and you are in front of a cute, authentic espresso bar.  Inside the bookstore is the clash of cultures that we need to experience often to remind us of all the emotions swirling around this crowded island-planet.

I chose the following books for my first trip:
The Beats: A Graphic History - the store is obviously most well-known for the Beats and I love graphic storytelling. Done.

The Language of Saxophones: Selected Poems of Kamau Daaood - the obvious thing to do is get Ginsberg's HOWL.  I will one day.  But, I thought it was more important to get a book of poetry written by someone I didn't know and published by City Lights.  Because that is what HOWL was, before it was HOWL.

Go find your words, and support the people that help get them out there.