Page 443

By Jack Joseph Smith

Perfect There, not there, then the possibility of there; wonder is our lovely death Pull me away from loving others die Do not think, please stop, I am not the King of heaven, only earth will bless us, us gone to Hell I can not sing I will slash the hurt you have given my country while I have striven the pure like little, animals Don't hustle false gods when they are the with no soul I still come back through the dislike The valley you reach

Original Scan

AI Interpretation

GPT

This rougher 'Perfect' page refuses heavenly self-importance and false gods while moving through love, injury, country, and a stubborn return through dislike and valley.

The corrected transcript sharpens the page's argument: the speaker is not a king of heaven, but someone bound to earth, hurt, and imperfect return. Its handwritten edits make the page feel actively wrestled into place.

Claude

A rougher 'Perfect' starts in pure flux - 'There, not there, then the possibility / of there; wonder is our lovely death' - then disavows divinity: 'I am not / the King of heaven, only earth will / bless us'. The speaker cannot sing and vows to 'slash the hurt you / have given my country', warning 'Don't hustle false gods' before coming 'back through / the dislike'. This reading is held lightly because the lower lines carry heavy strikeouts and handwritten edits resolved only where legible.