I agree that it's addressing Jack Kerouac. He's saying he really identified with him (felt like his mirror) while he was on the road, but now he can't keep leaving his problems behind him the way people leave their old couches out in alleys. Just as no one claims the couches and they become "rain-soaked and rotten," so too do his problems, and when the road runs out, and he has to return home, he is trapped behind walls and fences having to deal with the whole filthy metaphorical mess. I guess in a way he's asking Kerouac for his advice on this situation, though he acknowledges it's the very thing that brought about his demise. A little depressing, but beautifully done.
I agree that it's addressing Jack Kerouac. He's saying he really identified with him (felt like his mirror) while he was on the road, but now he can't keep leaving his problems behind him the way people leave their old couches out in alleys. Just as no one claims the couches and they become "rain-soaked and rotten," so too do his problems, and when the road runs out, and he has to return home, he is trapped behind walls and fences having to deal with the whole filthy metaphorical mess. I guess in a way he's asking Kerouac for his advice on this situation, though he acknowledges it's the very thing that brought about his demise. A little depressing, but beautifully done.