Page 264

By Jack Joseph Smith

The big hunk I did not turn and walk across the bay I stayed on the dock Cit bé f Lights out the slightest of the Moon Seals heads over the plank They knew they were at home a, Getting old divers and Vietnam warror's \ J They were good at fishing ¢S p two weeks out of six ‘ Long linging and drag drawing Cared little as far as I could tell And they take the stero can shinning from the movie star cigarettes in their mouths And drop a one by one hungkof herion on top Not to mention that I had been drinking expensive Oregon beer for two day streight,

Original Scan

AI Interpretation

GPT

Staying on the dock becomes an immersion in seals, divers, Vietnam veterans, fishing routines, heroin, cigarettes, and two straight days of expensive Oregon beer.

The seals know they are at home, and that certainty throws the human figures into relief as older, rougher creatures only partly at home in themselves. Divers, veterans, long-lining, drag drawing, heroin, and cigarette shine all sit in the same field without moral sorting. The speaker's expensive Oregon beer does not elevate him above the scene; it simply folds him deeper into its drift and corrosion.

Claude

Further 'big hunk' variant: seals' heads over the plank at home; old divers and Vietnam warriors fishing two weeks of six; they drop heroin onto their movie-star cigarettes; he has been drinking expensive Oregon beer for two days straight.