Page 9

By Jack Joseph Smith

Clensed This is the way we wanted the Earth Being no other; Scattered with what we would rid ourselves of There, where no line is through the ovel; no curve noticed before the beyond We have wanted ourselves in ashes, equally Balancing, even slightly toward, the almost as good in this Earth, as the slaughter Mathematician Yes; while says age sight can get to the magical rocks "While as a child I was the Saint with the sword" Above the Bible, absolutely in the clouds Those on fire worshiped, again, equally, with the ones in peace Yes, quick and dence is the population of the mind Just for the therefore is the slashing of obstacle, for that only view of thyself

Original Scan

AI Interpretation

GPT

This page of 'Clensed' imagines purification as a violent moral and spiritual sorting, with slaughter abruptly figured through the inserted word `Mathematician`.

Ashes, Bible, sword, peace, obstacle, and the new mathematical insertion all belong to the same severe vision. The poem sounds like it is trying to purify thought by passing directly through destruction and calculation.

Claude

First of the many 'Clensed' drafts that anchor the book's middle. The earth is willed into being 'Scattered with what we would rid ourselves of,' with 'no line is through the ovel; / no curve noticed before the beyond.' The poem courts annihilation as parity: 'We have wanted ourselves in ashes, equally,' the world 'almost as good in this Earth, / as the slaughter.' A 'Mathematician' and the boast 'While as a child I was the Saint with the sword' tie cold reason to holy violence; those 'on fire' are 'worshiped, again, equally, / with the ones in peace.' This reading remains provisional because the page is OCR-uncertain and flagged needs-followup.