Page 55
By Jack Joseph Smith
Poetry is
the outcome
of my way
of Life,
Not at All
A BEGINNING
Original Scan
AI Interpretation
GPT
The poem frames poetry as the result of a lived path, not its starting point.
The emphasis on outcome makes poetry feel earned rather than preliminary. The capitalized ending gives the last phrase a firm, corrective force: life precedes the poem, and the poem arrives after experience.
Claude
An all-caps declaration of poetics: 'Poetry is / the outcome / of my way / of Life, / Not at All / A BEGINNING.' Verse is named as the residue of a life already lived, never its first cause.