Until my brother, Tom, stop sending emails in 2010, many of the titles would read “The ‘blank’ is in the well,” and the message would include this cat image. We never talked about the image or the use of the phase, but he used them often as a preface to the message and a reflection of his condition.
In an October 16, 2009 email titled, “Cat’s In The Well” he wrote:
Your blog was splendidly poetic….(Visually and Verbally)!!!! Such a graceful turning inward and reflecting on two brothers and kindred spirits
…..
I love yah
Talk to you very soon
t.
Again, I would think about the phase and the why he would use it, e.g., “Photography is in the Well with the Cat.”
One can gather all kinds of meaning from the image and the phase, but it wasn’t till one day while running and listening to Bob Dylan on my iPad and I heard, “The cat’s in the well, the wolf is looking down.”
“That’s it!” I thought, maybe this was the connection, Dylan’s “Cat In The Well.”
The cat’s in the well, the wolf is looking down
The cat’s in the well, the wolf is looking down
He got his big bushy tail dragging all over the ground
The cat’s in the well, the gentle lady is asleep
Cat’s in the well, the gentle lady is asleep
She ain’t hearing a thing, the silence is a-stickin’ her deep
The cat’s in the well and grief is showing its face
The world’s being slaughtered and it’s such a bloody disgrace
The cat’s in the well, the horse is going bumpety bump
The cat’s in the well, and the horse is going bumpety bump
Back alley Sally is doing the American jump
The cat’s in the well, and Papa is reading the news
His hair’s falling out and all of his daughters need shoes
The cat’s in the well and the barn is full of bull
The cat’s in the well and the barn is full of bull
The night is so long and the table is oh, so full
The cat’s in the well and the servant is at the door
The drinks are ready and the dogs are going to war
The cat’s in the well, the leaves are starting to fall
The cat’s in the well, leaves are starting to fall
Goodnight, my love, may the Lord have mercy on us all
The theme of the song is apocalyptic — very mythological. The cat’s in the well and there’s just no escape.
Goodnight, Tom, may the Lord have mercy on you. Although broken and mangled, you were one “cool cat.”
kenne
Becoming is Superior to Being 
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