Page 265

By Jack Joseph Smith

77 Was:armeocth, once jelly fat, Now there were lines, thin lines of red curved up under his: eyes, The thing akeut’ hie-eyes mass they: were Like mine, . ent! ‘ ; ead Lene? phe pupils fron I-imew ‘he-had fought hard’ to keep dsleemaiimematsiaemay- dyMruvq. mee! De ya! see-what I’wean Animal? His-is:a-useless: cHiallenges as many challengessmay bez, butt ITrea= peat it, ye leant gupport it any lenger with my own wee csee You see Animal, laborers: think teat! AIT the-times ya'' knows’ The protlem ia: that am American worker, when le works: it the middle of 2 the battering of factory sound, which is also a: tine-when any mam could’ net controll being absole utely alone; during this-times.maybe tem heures of pressure-extreme; the Aueriten worker dreams jean Tous: dreams of those wlio: don't work, He hates all> Nothing im his:mind is not! rejected er distroyeds’ But’ when the buzzer rings, ke sees: the: rich with protlems-with their wives, .and the hyppies with ‘ preblems iw their WULES ‘and’ ther he-goes out’ into a io -can. of beer ant laughs soit eact vepeating work shift, In the morning) , for me, ,it' wae not only tances and’ akeohol. I

Original Scan

Page 265

AI Interpretation

GPT

The collection ends by returning to labour, resentment, and the trapped imagination of the American worker, as if all the visions and flights have to answer to that hard social ground.

This final movement is fittingly severe. It treats work, beer, marriage, and class fantasy as a system that keeps reproducing bitterness, and it closes the manuscript nearer to social pressure than transcendence.

Claude

The collection ends by returning to labour, resentment, and the trapped imagination of the American worker. The page refuses triumphal closure.