Page 10
By Jack Joseph Smith
By Jack Joseph Smith
Original Scan
AI Interpretation
Joe Kuty appears almost superhuman on the shaking planks, his body and purpose briefly glowing against a world that remains utterly indifferent to the work below.
The poem gives Joe the force of a star and the precision of dream logic, where mistakes do not happen until waking life returns. That grandeur is immediately checked by the reminder that neither sky nor earth cares what the workers are doing. The closing note is crucial: Joe's authority comes not from nobility but from a hard indifference that lets him move straight through danger.
Joe Kuty as star skipping across two-by-twelves, imagined power set against real sky and earth. Ends with Joe headed to another union pay, or the end of our lives, with the flat tribute he did not give a shit.