Page 299

By Jack Joseph Smith

Chandelier It does not fall; maybe rich and poor in my mind have a common place with God and the stars that have clashed in the universe I am in the Autumn of nineteen sixty three Kennedy is almost dead, and I have been to Alaska Walking from the Goodman Institute, slanting off Rush Street, through the neighborhoods, in the early evening, approaching Old Town Chicago There the drapes were not drawn Pulled rather way back Thresholds away like an open door

Original Scan

AI Interpretation

GPT

'Chandelier' opens in autumn 1963, with Kennedy almost dead, Alaska behind the speaker, and an evening walk toward Old Town Chicago becoming a threshold memory.

The corrected text clarifies the setting and movement. Public history, city walking, class, God, stars, drapes, and thresholds all begin to gather into one visual scene.

Claude

'Chandelier' fixes a precise moment -- 'the Autumn / of nineteen sixty three,' when 'Kennedy is almost dead' and the speaker has 'been to Alaska.' It walks us in real time from the Goodman Institute, 'slanting off Rush Street,' toward Old Town Chicago in early evening. The fixture of the title 'does not fall'; instead rich and poor, God and the clashing stars share 'a common place,' and the windows where 'the drapes were not drawn' open 'like an open door.'