Page 123

By Jack Joseph Smith

124 He came back with the two beers and as he sat down we began to face each other, before I told him of my thoughtsa Danifi, did you Imow T was in South Auericas No, I didn't, 4 went with wy father and his business friends, I think it was his last attempt to show me the pleasures of the business worldg Tonight DanfEi 1 om wondering what lies withing. You have said good things. You have said things that are real for meg. But what if I want to go inside that rome soul,. and don't know hows Amaen really want to go into her soul. The fragance is gone out of my life and castle dreama are no longer at my finger tipsy The days of building immediate forts from the world are goneg Now is the time of decision;.Am 1 alive or am 4+ nots Where is eternal bliss, I see it nowhere, .And it is not comings The regiments .bave formed, The excuses are gone, .I am running B® because there is no reason to be where I am. Fook around you says So what? Deaths I can see its But how do I understand its Not within mey, Ihave already experienced it, The is no blossom waizing to opens No reason to play ; safe nothing is comings.Maybe Christ anopther times Beatnipikss Neilests,, every last one of themg. I've been to New York 4009 They aff't living for anything,.let alone now, And the Univeratise, Christ should be the SEED time, Spouting q knowledge of seen itis lips that have never been gs Maybe + am getting off of what you welte talking abouty,.but I'm not sures Stdly alone is what your sayings. Be aloof, I can't buy its And your right I have no business saying that, cause I can't buy myself, I live in a fat house with a pillow and clean sheets, What the fuck am I doing walking the forbidden streets with a lousy suit on Jinan, a

Original Scan

Page 123

AI Interpretation

GPT

Back over fresh beers, Michael recalls South America with his father, rejects business-world pleasures, admits he wants to go inside his own soul but cannot, and spirals through death, failed bliss, New York, beatniks, universities, and the shame of roaming forbidden streets in a cheap suit from a fat house.

The voice is desperate and contradictory, wanting revelation while mocking almost every available language for it. Class disgust, spiritual exhaustion, and self-contempt all show through the same rant, which makes the confession feel raw rather than polished.

Claude

Michael turns the tables with the South America trip, the end of castle dreams, the regiments formed and the running stopped, and the admission that he lives in a fat house with a pillow and clean sheets yet walks the forbidden streets.