Tom, the Cat, Berkeley in the 70’s

January 16, 2013  (I was 68)

         Tom, the Cat, Berkeley in the 70’s

Tom had a cat named Mandu

He lived on the corner of Ashby and Adeline

with Elaine whose cats were also so named

street cats as it were

She had a thing for live fur

and a claw proof water bed

so it is said a hippie pad

black light postered walls

billowy pink parachute tacked overhead

paraphernalia and junk overspread

all over the place like college degrees

and former families  And they had parties

that brought out characters who knew Weed

Steven Weed and had partied with him and Patty

Clever names catch the cat’s eye

Once a bomb blew the door at B of A

just down the street as was the custom

of that day of re-invented freedom

and unconventional convention

Easy to agree what is shouldn’t be

not so to know whatever will be when they go

Both were both mathematical and philosophical

but artistically inclined they never

cleaned up the mess and distress of dissolve

Catoptrics explains the green reflection

from the feline eye  I cannot

Tom gave up his ninth to a mechanical blast

Elaine knowing my indifference to pets

passed Adeline on to me  Mandu

disappeared and Elaine took Ashby up another street