5978. JIMMY THE RAT

JIMMY THE RAT

Jimmy the rat was scurrying around  -  I called him that

and he really was a rat. About 12 inches long, I guess, and

colored like a rat should be  -  there must be a word for that

tint or tone. He was a friend of mine. East 11th, 509. A really

nice place, if you have the time. This was 1967, 1968, and

really, really, really, things were different then.  I go there

now  -  ambling back and just to see  -  and my mind is set

to another level. Things, I understand, come and go; yet as

much as that happens, everything else always comes back.

They even put up markers now for things that were.

-

If you ever see the movie 'Ragtime', with James Cagney 

and other, maybe 1982, who knows, well, that's my spot 

and block 'Novy Mir Working Man's Cafe'. The film

people came in, and did over the entire block to look

like old Moscow, or Petersberg, or somewhere I forget.

Not big on movies myself  -  can't extend the disbelief

needed to fall for what I see. Now, years later, I

fully understand as well  -  that's how Life is and

that how Reality should be.