Page 267

By Jack Joseph Smith

Across the Street the Other Way Say there is not a sorrow of love Watch it moving by you not a glory either Knowing nothing Trying to make an epagram Listening to the last beautiful breaim Ugly as the body is And wanting you in these places Impossible runs away from the rain Coming back to the shed Laughing again Catching the eye From the top of your head to the tip of your toes saying hello Our sin Watching the other go by

Original Scan

Page 267

AI Interpretation

GPT

'Across the Street the Other Way' turns sorrowless, gloryless love into a street-level encounter with impossible desire, rain, the shed, bodily greeting, and shared sin.

The physical greeting at the end matters. The poem wants longing to be embodied from head to toes even while admitting that watching the other pass by is part of the sin.


Claude

''''Across the Street the Other Way' -- sorrow, glory, and a failed epigram while 'Listening to the last beautiful breaim' (breath). The hello from head to toes, then 'Our sin / Watching the other go by.''''