Page 86

By Jack Joseph Smith

No Protection I saw the sea four times I have seen the earth once I have seen many animals come out of less And less out of most; Fish can not talk beneath the water and men can't either: But you can not go to sleep You have to have hope And anger at a bad dream Fold up your life Creese it, throw it away No challenge let The horror of todat. Haven't seen it since Now I have SEEN IT twice Yah if you will YES IT CAN YES THEY CAN

Original Scan

AI Interpretation

GPT

"No Protection" treats exhaustion and despair as something resisted by hope, anger, and deliberate refusal, while marginal notes answer the typed poem with insistence that seeing can happen again.

Its title promises vulnerability, but the page is also an argument against surrender. Sea, earth, animals, fish, men, sleep, and nightmare become parts of a stripped-down survival ethic: fold life up if necessary, but keep enough will to answer the horror of todat. The handwritten replies make that ethic more dialogic, pushing back with haven't seen, now I have seen it twice, and yes they can.

Claude

'No Protection' tallies a life by sightings ('I saw the sea four times', 'the earth once') and finds men as mute as fish 'beneath the water', yet refuses surrender: 'you can not / go to sleep', 'You have to have hope / And anger at a bad dream.' Even the instruction to discard everything - 'Fold up your life / Creese it, throw it away' - is offered as survival against 'The horror of todat', not defeat. The handwritten coda ('Now I have / SEEN IT twice', 'YES IT CAN', 'YES THEY CAN') answers the typed poem with stubborn affirmation.