Page 98

By Jack Joseph Smith

The Restraunt Of Kings Reguardless of age They act old taking chairs with their wives As ina Mass their black eyes are long While the skirts and tables, are a chorus they will not mention Yet the outward Glance of grace sings... of the survivor? of the Killer? of the dealer? Who no one ever knew, until it cae time to order the wine, were shy, exactly one second before the Observation,

Original Scan

AI Interpretation

GPT

"The Restraunt Of Kings" watches ordinary diners assume an almost ceremonial power, making the act of ordering feel like a small drama of rank and threat.

The title enlarges the scene immediately, and the poem follows by turning chairs, wives, skirts, tables, and wine into stage properties of authority. The men seem old not just in age but in posture, carrying a practiced heaviness until the instant before choice exposes them. The final question of whether grace belongs to survivor, killer, or dealer keeps the elegance uneasy and faintly predatory.

Claude

Second placement of 'The Restraunt Of Kings' from page 61, with minor wording variation.

The poem at its second placement acquires a little more distance — 'Observation' capitalized turns the social act into an almost religious moment. Otherwise the picture is the same: diners whose roles (survivor, killer, dealer) are suspended for the length of a wine order. The book is comfortable letting the same portrait return as a motif.