Rat Lady Comments

The details we can notice or miss! !

Usual lives, unusual circumstances, extraordinary persons… I would take the "rat" as a metaphor for a paradox, a parasite that gnaws at the heart of the man on the pavement …

An interesting poem!

A wonderful poem.............appreciated. Top score and to my favourite.

Some, like the lady who has an outlandish appearance is either unusually arrogant or unfeeling to human deprivation that she calls a homeless man an animal or she must be off her head, unable to appear or act rational! The crowd turns their faces from her, may be because of her haughtiness! Then again the homeless man reduced to the level of a stray dog who has no roof to rest under! Two stark faces of a mechanised world! Great poem!

You have portrayed two characters.... the lady with the tattoos on her back and the rat on her head. Also the man asleep on the pavement. I must say that you have been trying to show two sides of an urbanised society!

Interesting and unique! Just like interesting and unique people that exist everywhere. They all make you think and wonder what this life is about. The partial link on Bri's page brought me to this poem. Thanks to both of you.

i'm putting into Sept. showcase, but for now at least, i'm putting the first stanza only AND the link to the poem's page into showcase; i'm trying to keep the showcase 'page' short, but packed with a good number of poems, so i don't usually present the whole text unless the poem is 'not-much-more-than-25-lines'. i hope this is acceptable to you. thanks. bri ;)

i have more topics to add to the list: mental illness, lonely, un-medicated, differences my first thought was she was remarking about the sleeping man/men. but who will ever know! ? sometimes i wonder what i would find out if i interviewed some of the homeless or ones who many people, including me, would call that catch-all name: homeless. i suppose i might hear some lies/tall tales, just like some normal people tell. locally i've been told that people who survey the area, to get some figure for the number of homeless around us, count as homeless some who have a building to live in but don't have a private bathroom, or maybe any bathroom; they may be invited to stay somewhere to get out of the elements and have some semblance of security. a neighbor couple (older than i) , two houses up our residential street in a small N. California city, told me they found a makeshift bed in their garage [which like MANY garages is not used to store a vehicle]. when i left my first wife, i left her the car and house and access to a joint checking account, AND i had a good job, BUT i would have been considered homeless. being frugal, i rented a garage-door entry storage unit in an un-fenced, un-patrolled storage unit lot not far from my job. [my mom later decided i should get a proper home so i rented a room in an old house and shared a bathroom down the hall with another tenant] i liked it there (the storage unit) , but i lived in an area with cold, snowy winters and it was approaching winter. i've heard that some people just are NOT comfortable living in a 'shelter' or other building. of course many can not afford an apt. or house situation. i could say tons more i suppose, but let me say more about the poem! ! i LIKE IT. and i shall be pleased to use it in my forthcoming September 2017 showcase (of poems by PH poets) , found in my list of PH poems on my PH site. now i'm reading some of the earlier comments. Mj Lemon (8/16/2017 1: 10: 00 PM) Thank you so much, Muhammad. Yes, this is a case where a picture is worth the proverbial thousand words. i think the poem, though not a1000 words, says plenty in an 'entertaining way'. no 'pictures/photos' are needed. BUT i just had a thought. i think i misinterpreted some of the poem. i was thinking that the Rat Lady was one of the poor, or 'homeless'. but, , no, i don't think so. she probably had an apartment, was a poet of local renown, liked animals and decorating, and had little or no compassion for those less-fortunate than she was! ! am i close? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - i 'love' the use of wind shear: Most people like a wind shear** turned around - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - **wind shear ˈwin(d) ˌSHir/ noun noun: wind shear; noun: windshear variation in wind velocity occurring along a direction at right angles to the wind's direction and tending to exert a turning force. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - one definition of animal DOES include humans, and i tend to think of 'animals' as including humans. of course the word animal has taken on a bad connotation in some cases when applied towards humans. THAT kind of gives monkeys and aardvarks and sharks and beetles and parrots and amoebas and turtles and toads etc. a bad name! ! ! to MyPoemList. bri ;) now i've read more of the comments and some of your responses. Eccentric! that's a word i was trying to think of as i was suggesting other 'topics'. i especially liked Richards comment.

A nice poetic imagination, Lemon. You may like to read my poem, Love and Lust. Thanks

i think no comment on this poem is as suitable as some pictures to be pasted here of such situations. not less than a short and art movie. beautiful painting of ugliness... from inside.

M.J., this reminds me of Michael Jackson and his fascination with rats and mice. As a child, he had a mouse as a pet. After his father killed it, something in him snapped. He was never the same again. In the movie Ben, he sings the soundtrack, and it's a pretty darn eerie ode to rats. Both Jackson and your Rat Lady are quite eccentric. They seem to be in touch with a separate reality. They're considered outsiders because they don't fit the mold. But the homeless men also don't fit that mold. And the Rat Lady knows this and shows outrage: 'That animal! '.She seems to resent the people turning their backs on her, but let the sleeping dogs lie.

I am caught up with the woman with a rat on her head saying That animal to the homeless man sleeping on the pavement. I can read how foolish judgmental people can be and how open they really are to being judged themselves. Was she so blind to who she was? How could she be so blind? How often do I do that? Then there are other questions? Was she even aware of the rat on her head? Was the bright red sombrero on her head or on the rat's? Did she make it for the rat or to share with the rat? Was she proud of that rat, that imperfection in her appearance to others? But then I look at the passage and think if she is aware of the rat on her head that probably means she is fond of the rat and calling a man sleeping on the pavement an animal may be her version of a compliment. She accepts that we are all animals and we share the earth and its creature comforts together... a place of rest is a place of rest is a place of rest. See what you do to me, my friend? ? ? ? ? ? I wander through all the possibilities for human conduct and end up... wondering at the complexity of the human race and enjoying it as well.. Then there is the awesome display of word choice and image: Most people like a wind shear turned around went the other way when they saw her coming- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Word-Magic! ! ! ! ! That's what it is! ! ! You have made me see that moment in time exactly as if I were there. Word-Weaver! ! ! More could be said but I shall shut up now ;) 10+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

What an unusual sight to behold. What an eccentric character. I couldn't imagine carrying a rat around on my head. Imagine the droppings. Which reminds me of a little man I would see once or twice walking down the street many years ago carrying two enormous cockatoos on his shoulders. I was struck by the amount of droppings running down his black jacket.

Hahahaha it is clever, you add humour to serious matter... we always scared for nothing and judge as eyes see...but what we can do is only that? i think most of society is like this, but they are only scared...i believe many great hearts out there too...its hard to say anything but...well lets change her to be a hamster Lady, it would be everyone favorite.. :) hahahaha

You set the scene very well. There is urban chic, there is homelessness, all sewn into the fabric of city life. You give the reader a slice of real life with a touch of humor. Well penned.