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By Jack Joseph Smith

The Touch Your brain filled with Heaven Your heart filled with Hell I remember blood ‘ all over @ spot imithe Pacific And I remember just aqua too And glancing; both ways : I knew I could never: lay my hand on~her; While there all along, that would be war, as well

Original Scan

AI Interpretation

GPT

"The Touch" holds heaven and hell inside the body while blood, Pacific light, and the impossible act of laying a hand on her become indistinguishable from war.

The poem is built out of divided interiors: brain against heart, aqua against blood, desire against prohibition. Glancing both ways gives the moment the feel of a crossing or a checkpoint, not a free encounter. By the end, withheld touch is not just personal restraint but part of a larger violence already surrounding them.

Claude

The Touch: brain with Heaven, heart with Hell, blood all over a spot in the Pacific and just aqua too, the refused hand that would have been war.