Page 5

By Jack Joseph Smith

Knowing when you got a wild whip Isn't necessarly that way You got #o be clear with a strap Fast as a knife and the ney Infants have considered excaping Three handred yars attached to spring Back to class never is there leaving . A world lesser than us; we have a ring Footsteps and crawfish stay in the creek From the past we are to touch and run from It better be that way on our way back Forget the talk; all the daughters own the loam This drout all along and down the line That makes us sad against to weep Give us not lost flowers our hands to keep We have no line to draw; only it is our day

Original Scan

AI Interpretation

GPT

The page pivots on violence and discipline, using straps, knives, infants, and escape to imagine harsh knowledge as a way of being trained.

What stands out is the mixture of threat and instruction. The poem does not describe cruelty from outside; it speaks from within a world where force and clarity are treated as related.

Claude

A page built on 'whip,' 'strap,' and 'ring' — infants considering escaping, daughters owning the loam, the drout making sadness — ending on the refusal to draw any line other than the day itself.