Page 149

By Jack Joseph Smith

Slighted Taking her womb back for me Of course that would not help At the ends of the earth you can't hold sand She is a soap opria queen and when you walk on to her set it is better to hate her before you love her Which ever comes first will certainly be degrading Or is it the kiss Not the strand or empty hole That makes you whole

Original Scan

AI Interpretation

GPT

The page mixes womb, sand, soap opera, hate, love, degradation, and wholeness, making intimacy feel theatrical and compromised.

With the OCR noise removed, the poem's argument is sharper: the beloved is staged as a soap opria queen, and the speaker treats hate, love, kiss, strand, and empty hole as rival routes to being made whole.

Claude

Slight (or Slighted). Taking her womb back for me — at the ends of the earth you can't hold sand. She is a soap opera queen; better to hate her before you love her, whichever comes first will certainly be degrading. Or is it the kiss — not the strand or empty hole — that makes you whole.