Rattus Maximus

Rattus Maximus
2008 - 11"x12", Mixed media on wood.
(Not For Sale)
www.ErikVP.com

This is the third and final painting from my Year of The Rat series. Rat and Moon and Year of The Rat were the first two.

I like watching the rats running around the subway tracks, and I always take the F-Train. The painting is dated 4706 for the Chinese New Year. There's some random poetry on the Brooklyn Rail newspaper collage below, but not related to the rat.

The title is in reference to the misconception that rats living in New York are super-sized.

I Know
There was a moment.
Out the window.

Now and again.
Turned around.
I was trying to find.
You musn't trouble yourself.

Disabled
The war on terror.
Couldn't do it's job.
Spending millions a day.
Our infrastructure crumbling.
Responsibility.

In The Pudding
You can have a vision.
A vision.
I see the proof.

The Neighborhood
If nothing else,
People should put themelves,
In a position to save themselves.

New Orleans,
A financial disadvantage.
Courtesy of the government.
Pushing and providing.

That Was Deep
This is how I think.
The greatest moral failure.
And that's how it will.

Thoughts Crossed
I am far from people.
I had foolishly imagined.

I looked at my watch.
I decided.

The next day,
At 11:10pm, in the morning,
The idea seemed ridiculous.

They Were Black
Twice in a row,
Across the blue sky.
So quickly they seemed.

A straight line,
In the late afternoon.

I waited a bit.
I opened the door.
I went out.
I shall always remember.