A couple weeks ago I attended an informational talk about poverty in Rochester. The director of a homeless shelter called The House of Mercy, or Mercy House, came in along with Juan, one of the individuals who has used the shelter’s services to get back on his feet. Juan’s story of struggle and poverty reminded me of a section in Percival Everett’s poem Logic.
I really enjoyed this opportunity because even though the content was unfortunate and sad, it opened my eyes to how fortunate I am. Juan told his story of struggling with homelessness from the age of ten in Yonkers, and all the things he had to do to keep himself going. He was an alcoholic by the time he was twelve, he was an avid drug dealer by the time he was thirteen and had a significant amount of money saved until his mother took it from him in order to buy a house for her and her boyfriend in which Juan was not allowed to live in. In his twenties Juan ended up in Rochester, but still homeless. After struggling with mental health and the law, he was referred to Mercy House where he has been working ever since. He is soon, if he hasn’t already, moving into his very first apartment because of the opportunities Mercy House was able to give him.
“From rags and dust
a rat is formed in the cellar.
It was not there before.
Only rags and dust.”
When looking further into the meaning of this section, I found that a “rag and bone man” in the nineteenth century was one who gathered unwanted rags and other discarded items and repurposed them into something to sell. In the case of rags specifically, rag and bone men would transform them into paper. This reminds me of Juan’s story because he, unwanted by his parents and unable to find a home, was able to transform his life into something he can be proud of, just as the rag and bone men were able to transform their findings.
When Everett writes about how the rat was “formed in the cellar” and how it “was not there before” I think he is implying this change and transformation of the rags to the paper. I don’t think that this “rat” is supposed to indicate anything negative but rather just fits the description. For example, Juan’s rat is the life he has built for himself out of his past experiences being homeless. His new apartment is not one that was there before for him, just like the rat wasn’t there before the rags and dust. Juan’s rags and dust, and his experiences and opportunities helped him form his success.
Everett, Percival. 2006. “Logic,” 63-70, re: f (gesture).
“Rag-and-Bone Man.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 28 Nov. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rag-and-bone_man.