Jack Kerouac Bobblehead Night!

Jack’n

July 2006

“I used to see Jack Kerouac

every once in awhile

in a coffee shop in the city,”

this older guy named Louie –I think he said he was 74 –Said to me.

“I saw Ginsburgand the other ‘Beats’around the city a lot.

They were pretty nice guys

Very approachable

Very dedicated to their craft

I’ll never forget the late morning

I once sat with Jack Kerouac

Drinking coffee

Smoking cigarettes and talking about writing and living…

So, what brings you to Lowell?” Louis finally asked.

Lowell, Mass

Home of Jack Kerouac

And Jack’s final resting place

Now

On this hot July afternoon

I am in line at a minor league baseball stadium

With a few other sweaty – and anxious –Jack Kerouac fans

(no, make that worshipers!)

We’re all here for the same thing

A Jack Kerouac bobblehead doll –

(Given to the first 300 fansAt that evening’s Lowell Spinners baseball game)

And I’m here to hang with some people, who

Like me

Were crazy enough

To drive to Lowell, Mass

On the road

To get a Jack Kerouac bobblehead doll

Louie lives in New Hampshire now

But lived in the City when he was a book editor

Some people in line were academic-types

Writing or teaching writing – or both

Most were just regular Joes

Or Jacks –

Or Jackie in my sister’s case

She took the short drive from Rhode Island

I wasn't going without her!

“I read ‘On The Road’ every summer,” one man boasted

“I own everything Jack has done,” another one said

“I love Jack Kerouac,

especially the spoken word albums he has done,” one woman said.

Everyone here loves Jack

It’s a good crowd

And once the gates open,

And we all get our bobblehead dolls

Many bid each other farewell

Even before the first pitch is thrown

I go in to take a look at the stadium

Grab a seat

And smell the freshly cut grass

And hear the ball slam into the mitts during warm-ups

And the sound of a ball cracking off the bat just before it sails into theoutfield

The food stands selling hotdogs

And souvinier tables everywhere

I open the box and

Gently

take the Jack Kerouac bobblehead doll out

Blue pants

Red shirt

A face that maybe –

maybe –

looks like Jack Kerouac

This

Baseball

Meeting people

And getting a Jack Kerouac bobblehead doll

Is america

The trip -

our brief On the Road

was worth it