By Jack Joseph Smith
Original Scan
AI Interpretation
A few rough street-level images, a dog on the ridge, and a final imperative about love give this page the feel of a grounded warning against drifting too far from bodily, ordinary life.
The scan corrections make the page more plainly imperative: watch the outcome, shut your mouth, love that girl. Its plainness helps the last line land as advice instead of abstraction.
A street-level poem that resists confession then issues blunt commands. The reluctant opening - 'I did not think / I would ever mention it' - gives way to a doggish, ground-sniffing fixation, 'Sniffing the dog along the ridge / Not a chance of giving it up'. Attention narrows to the ordinary, 'especially just walking down the street', and the close fires off imperatives: 'Did that dog bark? / Shut your mouth / Love that girl'. The title's promised humility lands as terse self-instruction, command standing in for reflection.