Page 45

By Jack Joseph Smith

_¢ » | trubute-vietts” hewseids “They wateh through the windic owe of the Alimmam towers, They eee the rivers, and’ the boate filled with coal and irew and chemicals, Tiey see speaks of sesmem dancing te their work heures. They per? their cigars, and enjoy the imprint their heel has made ef the-face ef the cities and its people, Further down the rivers, and further up the rivers, inbetween the cities, the-seazen, the beatuen all, the auptaine ant 7 the-navigaterss they see the shacks, and’ the red sulfur om the water, they see-the dead eyed faces of the mew whe stand’ along the: locks working at the pests assigned’ te then Met: at Teast fleting om the: beats, the -bentmen aoe the bank people of the rivers with an unmistakable death im their cyegs "tie these that sone call they, up: om their first dis- < , custing, them errit pausl: carpets, they: are laughing with burbow at this moment. Thein walle are made ef nothing but sheet resk, still they: are: laughing about their inpertanee, . And’ they- are right about.everything but the truth of their tngitian,' pie-ssn-onsthe-sidipa: auetvagizing aines tlep-ame: Sicdon!4—mow-anything—about—the-men-on-_the_beate.—_They must feel alet digverent about any —kind—of—leugher—they- Pets I te-know that whenever T werton-eny—kind-of tours:

Original Scan

Page 45

AI Interpretation

GPT

This page sharpens the class critique, setting the hard lives of river workers against the insulated self-importance of executives who watch from above.

The contrast is not only economic but moral. The poem imagines power as something elevated and detached, while labour remains exposed to dirt, chemicals, and death. What the privileged misread as entertainment or importance is measured here against the reality of men whose bodies bear the cost.

Claude

The executives in the aluminum tower watch the river of boats and coal and chemicals, enjoying the imprint their heel has made on the face of the city — while further along the rivers the boatmen and bank-people carry unmistakable death in their eyes. The page's class-rage is unusually direct, and the final lines break down into crossed-out revision as if the author could not settle on how to land it.