Page 156

By Jack Joseph Smith

’ Near Future Nothing but a big bone * after the last animal | . slaughtered , She looks out there And says it's troubble ! And she knows behind her back of concrete They are talking down through her veins | I guess you have . to live the truth But even if she ; hadn't been down the road All around just another table I think I'd stick with her

Original Scan

AI Interpretation

GPT

"Near Future" imagines a stripped-down world of slaughter, concrete, and rumor, then quietly chooses allegiance to a troubled woman anyway.

The opening image of a big bone after the last animal is apocalyptic without needing spectacle. Around that ruin, the woman reads danger accurately while hostile voices seem to move through the built world and even through her blood. The final line matters because it is not idealizing loyalty; it is choosing her with full knowledge of the trouble.

Claude

Near Future reprise: nothing but a big bone after the last animal slaughtered. Still I'd stick with her. Identical to page 63, repeated here in sequence.