Page 342

By Jack Joseph Smith

And I went to war under the Southerm Cross I hoboed and laid block I did really well with my study of insects And I was at the University of Arizona with that girl from E.. Island also I loved Cuba; I gave up a boat for those guys, and a girl I think I've seen poetry on fire,, and I put it out; just for the generations I went up and asked for some shorts, in a negro village,, cause my jeans had been ripped in the back, while I refused to tell them where I'd been And I put three solid years into watching animal shows while drinking that Vocka Had one kid;

Original Scan

AI Interpretation

GPT

This autobiographical page moves through war under the Southerm Cross, hoboing, block-laying, insect study, Arizona, Cuba, poetry on fire, torn jeans, secrecy, animal shows, Vocka, and having one kid.

It reads like a deliberately rough life resume. The cleaned transcript makes the accumulated work, travel, and witness clearer without smoothing the source's spellings.

Claude

A breathless autobiographical inventory, each line a claimed life: 'I went to war under the Southerm Cross,' 'I hoboed and laid block,' did well 'with my study of insects,' studied 'at the University of Arizona / with that girl from E.. Island.' It mixes romance and sacrifice -- 'I loved Cuba; I gave up a boat / for those guys' -- and a poet's vocation, 'I've seen poetry on fire,, / and I put it out; just for / the generations.' The catalog runs through a torn-jeans episode in 'a negro village,' refused explanations, 'three solid years ... watching / animal shows while drinking that Vocka,' and ends mid-life: 'Had one kid.' Source spellings ('Southerm,' 'Vocka') are kept.