Page 199
By Jack Joseph Smith
By Jack Joseph Smith
Original Scan
AI Interpretation
The page draws a hard social line between the old hippie refusal of stardom and a newer hunger to become a star in one's innermost self.
Its point is not fashion but anthropology: two eras are being measured by what they secretly want to be. The phrase "Inside I mean" is the knife, because it turns celebrity into a private structure of character rather than public fame alone. The distance between the worlds is absolute, and the poem offers no bridge.
An anthropological cut between eras measured by hidden desire: 'The Hippy's wanted not to be / movie stars; / While you want to be movie / stars.' The knife is the qualifier 'Inside I mean / Really how you are,' which makes stardom a private structure of character rather than public fame. The verdict is absolute and offers no bridge: 'The two worlds / are as socially distant / as it is possible to be.'