Page 36

By Jack Joseph Smith

Sound The willow wind winds its way with wonder This is the way to see a tree with hesitence There crossed with clouds we are damaged with thought It is eglastic with principe, never a way to be lowered Kiss the tip of all of tongues as we speak,, our breast, is not necessarily our notion, whem asked for it,, getting it is as good as God; that is why the universe: speeks stars to change; and just as good, head strong,, keeping the same; to speak about great things,, isn't necessarily easy,, but to know lost art, and turned away gun barrels is hard Whem the chips are down, watch the bronco stop in the sun, watch the cowboy lay his hat down, and say nothing, about who has won Watch your daughters heart bleed as a child,. stand back as you accept hell through the door Kiss your ground ocassioned to guilt, be Steve Mc Queen, lay low like a jerk, whatever modern takes; listen to the last of sounds. they say don't be takened away; Old and hard and heavy, not to be mistaken for the moon Glass through which wonder makes time, LEAST explosive than a NEW dream Rocked on a little stream I am small now All yet a sound

Original Scan

AI Interpretation

GPT

Sound becomes a way of receiving wonder, guilt, speech, cowboy silence, and cosmic change without reducing them to explanation.

The poem builds sound out of wind, speech, stars, gun barrels, cowboy silence, a child's hurt, guilt, and the late awareness of being small. The corrected moon, LEAST explosive, and NEW dream lines soften the ending's cosmic force, as if sound survives where explanation does not.

Claude

'Sound' opens with dense alliteration - 'The willow wind winds its way with wonder' - and makes speech sacramental: 'Kiss the tip of all of tongues as we speak,' so that 'getting it is as good as God; that is why the universe: / speeks stars to change.' The poem turns to cowboy stoicism as a model of restraint: 'watch the bronco stop in the sun, / watch the cowboy lay his hat down, and say nothing, / about who has won,' invoking 'Steve Mc Queen' and the counsel 'don't be takened away.' It diminishes toward a final smallness - 'Glass through which wonder makes time, / LEAST explosive than a NEW dream / Rocked on a little stream / I am small now / All yet a sound.' This reading stays provisional: the page is needs-followup with uncertain lower-right handwriting. Source spellings 'hesitence,' 'eglastic,' 'principe,' 'whem,' 'speeks,' 'ocassioned,' and 'takened' are preserved.