Kerouac 4

I can see the Kerouac Commemorative in old downtown Lowell from my booth in Arthur's Diner on Bridge Street, a football kick south of the Merrimack River. The commemorative is made from 8 granite pillars, each etched with an extract from JK's writing. The 8 pillars, we are told, form a mandala, with benches scattered about.



Nothing on the array of tourist signs I've seen around the city directs us to this spot. No doubt Kerouac's an embarrassment to Lowell. But he obviously loved the place, judging by the extracts on the pillars, which speak of what he did, what he learned, as a boy roaming around Lowell, the place his Canadian-born parents moved to and Kerouac lived through his high school years.

The diner's been here for 80 years. Maybe Kerouac ate a western omelette on a paper place as I'm about to do. "For sure, Kerouac ate here," the young cook says when I ask. "He used to live just up there, and drink in that bar around the corner."

Later, as I leave the diner, I just for a second imagine his hand closing the door.