By Jack Joseph Smith
Original Scan
AI Interpretation
Visual keeps a damaged artist's work intact, then pivots to a living 'convect' whose art, betrayal, and requested sketch collapse into violence.
The opening rule, once they go up they do not come down, treats reputation as irreversible. Paccaso can be known to have fucked something or somebody and still not be torn up once possessed. The second case is more immediate: the gift of a piece, the wife's betrayal, the corrected "I kill her," and the final request for a sketch make art survive even inside revenge and humiliation.
Titled 'Visual,' the poem sets a rule about reputation - 'Once they go up / they don't come down' - then tests it against scandal. Knowing that 'Paccaso fucked / something or somebody' does not make you 'rip him up' if you own the work; the dead master's art outlasts his sins. The second case is more brutal and immediate: when a 'convect' both 'gives me a piece' and 'fucks my wife,' the response is 'I kill her, / and ask for / a sketch' - the artwork survives even inside jealousy and killing. Source spellings 'Paccaso' and 'convect' are preserved.