Untitled ("Just because I'm from down under")

By Jack Joseph Smith

Just because I'm from down under Dosen't mean I don't know about lakes Considerable in the moonlight you know how far you have to go Some people word hard all their live and then get scarred I've worked, but not for anybody else, and so shoet it seems the time has been, and too early I understand seared Yes I am in the dark And yes the candel is perfect He does not just know fire Everyone does where I come from Shakes burning for three centuries that I know of

Original Scan

AI Interpretation

GPT

A labor and fire poem that speaks from Appalachian endurance, insisting on hard-earned knowledge against dismissal.

Claude

'Down under' here is not Australia but the bottom of Appalachia — below the ridge, below the economy, below notice. The speaker insists that knowledge earned in fire and labor is real knowledge.

The phrase 'just because' announces a preemptive defense against a judgment always anticipated. The speaker has been dismissed before and knows its shape.