Page 104

By Jack Joseph Smith

Why Leave it alone: don't give it up Sort it out, all that you speak is true, as in finding a place Do not think it is difficult As in what would have been done That just for one it was What was started is many times sorry Or a song gong wrong It takes alot of work To know any better Mississipppi is the first place I spelled Still I wonder why a way around it After the very thought of doing it Why is there wonder at all

Original Scan

AI Interpretation

GPT

This page worries at the question of why wonder exists at all, tying truth, labor, regret, spelling, song, and the effort to sort life into some usable shape.

It feels like a thinking poem in the most literal sense. The speaker is not arriving at a conclusion so much as working through the need to ask the question again, with the title `Why` returning in the final line.

Claude

Why. Leave it alone; don't give it up. Mississippi spelled as the first place he could spell. Why is there wonder at all — the page circles back to its own question without closing.