Page 149

By Jack Joseph Smith

No matter what is said concerning cershindo we know it is all about the beginning and the ending; take a bath if you get a chance, good by, my displeasure won't last We know evil is two and two, ostensible We do not cross its lines, however if ya' put itup, most do No one is alowd to go to work, let alone walk down the street unless thay have a bit at least of fashest in their convetsatior over I have walked on meadows, and I have walkee across the sea, but I never thought I was Jesus I have seen some medows beneath my feet HAS EVER GROWN And I have sden some thousand miles skirt them too across the sea, and I never gave a thought to Jesus when I was doing it MEADOWS THE EARTH I have walked across the most beautiful

Original Scan

AI Interpretation

GPT

The speaker sets beginnings and endings against a fascist public atmosphere, insisting on ordinary human scale while refusing both evil's logic and any messianic self-image.

The poem moves from domestic instruction to political disgust without changing tone, which makes the critique feel lived rather than rhetorical. Its sharpest line is the claim that everyday speech already carries a bit of fashest, turning the whole street into a contaminated space. The later meadow and Jesus lines reject a heroic self-image, while the handwritten additions enlarge the earth imagery instead of turning the speaker into a savior.

Claude

This untitled page slides from domestic instruction - 'take a bath if you get a chance, / good by, my displeasure won't last' - into political disgust without changing tone, claiming evil is 'two and two, ostensible' and that 'No one is alowd to go to work' or 'walk down the street' unless they carry 'a / bit at least of fashest in their convetsatior,' so ordinary speech contaminates the whole street. The meadow lines reject any messianic self-image - 'I have walked on meadows, and I have walkee / across the sea, but I never thought I was / Jesus' - and the handwritten 'HAS EVER GROWN' and 'MEADOWS THE EARTH' enlarge the earth imagery rather than the speaker. This reading stays somewhat provisional given the mixed OCR band and the placed handwritten additions.