Goodbye to NY Poem

How do you say goodbye to a place
When it's the only place
You've ever known
This is a love letter to New York
My state
My state of mind
New York is my blood
The roots of the birch trees
With their peeling bark
That remind me of the paint peeling
Off the ceiling in my high school bedroom
At my mom's house
The same bedroom where my mom
Gave me three buckets of paint
Said to call some friends
Paint the walls
Instead we took a bunch of permanent markers
Scribbled song lyrics all ovеr them
Threw up some band postеrs
And underground rap show flyers
And called it a day
So I can't pretend it's not emotional
The many homes I've had in New York
Will always be my source of inspiration
These four seasons were my concerto
As towns along the Hudson River
Played an orchestra in my veins
The black dirt
Meadow Blues
Turnpikes
Ithaca rooftops
New York hikes
Extended family
College days
Lifelong friendships
Like all of my heroes
New York will always be a part of me
This accent when I say
Words like coffee or awesome
You carry these idiosyncrasies
Of your home state with you
They're the souvenirs
That line your suitcase
The map that leads you back
To who you are

So this news is bittersweet
But this is not goodbye
No this is not goodbye
I'm moving to Los Angeles
To really give my music career my all
July 2023
Wish me luck

It's not that New York didn't work out
It's that New York worked out so well
I got to the end of the back road
I was walking down as an independent artist
And I discovered there's even more to it
There are the woods and a forest beyond that
And a highway across the country
And a million other small towns
Just like my one across the United States
And across the globe
And the best years of my life
Are yet to happen
If I don't make this move
My life is like a memoir with no conclusion
An album with no liner notes
A roll of film sitting on the shelf undeveloped
You guys
My fans
Have lifted me up since day one
And I need you now more than ever
To be a part of this movement
My nowhere kids
I'll see you in California