Page 139
By Jack Joseph Smith
JESUS
Hanging
With the sunlight
on the other side
of the cross
This is us, the underlife
that sings
WE ARE THE WOUNDS
with the guts to worship,
AND WE ARE THE NEVER
down,
ON OUR KNEES
Original Scan
AI Interpretation
GPT
This page imagines Christ's hanging from the opposite side of the cross, then turns that image into a collective statement about underlife, wounds, worship, and abasement.
The force of the page comes from how quickly it moves from a visual reorientation of the crucifixion to a communal identity claim. 'The underlife that sings' and 'the wounds' make suffering feel both degraded and strangely defiant, while the closing lines keep devotion tied to physical humiliation.
Claude
The page reorients the crucifixion, placing 'JESUS / Hanging' with 'the sunlight / on the other side / of the cross', then claims a defiant communal identity: 'the underlife / that sings', 'THE WOUNDS / with the guts to worship', kneeling yet never 'down'.