Page 173

By Jack Joseph Smith

Distant Three steps across the hard wood hall Here he comes, twelve, I don't know He comes into the room he's got power. Call it what you want; he remembers it. That is not natural, that is unusual Some know how to watch seconds, really alot off them understand time. This is trouble, I have never felt anything like it; I was four years old watching my Irish Mom cry over F.D. R". death Of course I am not going to re-inact all that I have seem; but I need to say to you,, that right now, in our time,, in your time, and your family's time; this the most dangerous, this is the worst. I love you and be Careful

Original Scan

AI Interpretation

GPT

"Distant" turns a boy's charged entrance into a warning shaped by old grief, insisting that the present danger surpasses even the family catastrophe the speaker first witnessed as a child.

The poem begins with a hard domestic scene and immediately gives the twelve-year-old an almost frightening command of the room. That force unlocks the speaker's memory of his mother crying over F.D. R". death, so the page measures one threat against another across generations. Its ending becomes a direct protective blessing: I love you and be Careful.

Claude

'Distant' gives a twelve-year-old an unsettling command of the room - 'he's got power' and 'remembers it,' which the speaker calls 'not natural, that is unusual' - and that force triggers his own oldest memory, being 'four years / old watching my Irish Mom cry over / F.D. R". death.' The page measures one dread against another across generations and refuses to 're-inact / all that I have seem,' instead delivering a flat, urgent verdict ('this is / the worst') that resolves into the handwritten-completed blessing 'I love you and be Careful.'