Page 121

By Jack Joseph Smith

122 but to also have an understanding about the enviorment that four walls have secluded us withing We would have-to learn everything about your fathers jukebox, and everything about this business, or this enviorment, that attracts all of these people, There is a whole world heres ty that womens face; that looks like burned tinkeles Her cheeks are ready to fall to the floors One more degree of heat and she would pedi aparts But she stays She dosen't lmow whys She just stayay drink ing burbong It's killing her inside, but she can't see in there, so she dismisses that kind of heats The sweat on her brow is but a oool breeze, compared to that \ burning feeling inside, But she only sees what we see, and probably not as mucha Her time in front of the mirror is but a moment, compared to the endless passage : of eyes before her fgees: Does she wonder what tned ‘taking Noy she wonders what thekt’ dreaming, .Dreams are the only think she can relate to, And it's taken . her alot of paim to arrive -at that point, If I asked her to tell me an honest storys. I'll bet she would tell me about a dreams Where are your dreams Michael? Where are ‘ my dreams? I am trying to keep mine here; This is something we can learn from hers She already lmows that there are a million worlds beyond the door casting themselves i in rainbows.singing with color, but she has the control to foots her dream om the : man beside-her; He may not love her tonights. and may never, But she has the strength to look at that word; Tt's a big word, ien'+ it? Bigger than an idols She knows that Mjpow one will ever see her soul, and so she has the wisdom not to relate to ite! That is if wisdom is the thing that spops people from going further into agony,. Where are our minds Michael? Are they going away from the pain, or are they going toward ¢ the pain le thet’ direction is down, then we are not wises Possibly, if this is our directiori,, when we reach the bottom, we will be able to look up and see it all above uae Butfhen we must make our way through it all again, before we can look down upon

Original Scan

Page 121

AI Interpretation

GPT

A bourbon-drinking woman with a face like something burned becomes the center of a long meditation on hidden pain, mirrors, dreams, control, and whether wisdom means refusing to go further down into agony.

The close attention to her cheeks, brow, drinking, and imagined inner life makes the scene feel bodily rather than abstract. Pain is treated as both trap and knowledge here, with the speaker unsure whether descent leads toward truth or only deeper damage.

Claude

Danial's answer is that there is a whole world in one burned-out woman's face at the bar, and the two men begin to use her as a single-portrait instrument for talking about dreams, mirrors, and which direction the mind is going.