Page 91

By Jack Joseph Smith

Peter Fish Highjack's Humor The flight was nice A shimmering sun And the ladies were good on the aisle Peter-Fish gazed 'over ‘the impressions in the clouds: They had the fragile support of a suburban altar ‘boys rendition of Heaven, while Peter Fish sipped his scotch as a cherub: in tweed Peter’Fish had just'seen the mod haired silk money christ: walk Lake-Shore Drive-on the olive liquid bobs of a thousand martinies. Presently the-Chicago cards-had Peter Fish menuing out lean Beverly Hills tongues: ona Warhol sandwich And shipping -the Hollywood Hille sign to where it belongs in Dallas, Texas Bored to the brow with thoughts: on the heavy equipment’ bidio. Peter Fish took his mini sound system from hie custom-suit pocket over his hearts "Listen! People of the planes Attention! A report defying Kansas City, Kansas control. A milk white beauty queen has been found praying over- Black Hills Indian graves-in a language stranger than Omen Latineee Jessy’James's-real bones have just been arrested | in the New York City subways Jessy's bones were:leading: a herd of wild horses to a waterhole at‘ Fifth and Fortysecond Street, Jessy's-skull wasn't communicating: too-well, until'a plastic:surgeon wired in a radio mouth with the-assistance-of an electronica wizard, Jessy: then explained the bulk bag of scientifically’ shiny blue pills: slung:over: the shoulder blades of his bonesséeo Awhile back Jessy*s horses had evidently demanded the pills for continual nourishment the day they had: refused’ to assist Jessy in sticking up an Art Linkletter tourist bus. From: Hollywood! Asked why he wasn't studying film techniques, Willy Sutton announced that his sudden resurrection: had him into dentistry/due to the-nitro glycerin capped teeth fad ' spreading ‘through the: Italian banking crowdiece Incidently, the weather: bureau in Boise, Idaho has: just reported an abundance of energy from sea to shining sea. Establishing that' the Atlantic and the Pacific :are- massive, this discovery must be considered dangerous$" (Apprehended ‘for metaphor at the Los-Angelees International; Peter-Fish realized’ that he had ‘overlooked’ foroing the: pilot to fuel up forever: for -Fact City; U.S.Ao) Where they would not have a leg to stand on

Original Scan

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AI Interpretation

GPT

"Peter Fish Highjack's Humor" turns a plane announcement into a manic chain of American absurdities, using comedy to mock spectacle, media, and national fantasy.

The voice keeps escalating from scotch, clouds, and Lake Shore Drive into Jesse James bones, beauty queens, plastic surgeons, and weather-bureau revelation, as if the whole country were one delirious news bulletin. The jokes are not light; they make public language sound broken by advertising, celebrity, crime, and metaphor all at once. The ending matters because "Fact City, U.S.A." is imagined as a destination where nobody could stand, which makes the whole routine feel like satire against false certainty.

Claude

'Peter Fish Highjack's Humor': airborne satire piece where a character hijacks via mini-sound-system, reports Jesse James's bones arrested, Willy Sutton in dentistry.

The poem reads like a Pynchon sketch compressed into a single bit — Peter Fish is a made-up lineage of American violence narrated as in-flight entertainment. 'Apprehended for metaphor at the Los Angeles International' is the punchline that names the crime; the satire is the arrestable offense. Dallas, Texas, 'where the Hollywood Hills sign belongs', is the specific joke about where image-industry ends up.