Page 163

By Jack Joseph Smith

162 And the bird cna spread its wings and fly, the moment before the tree hits the grounds I said, That's right? When the winds right, just spread eagle babys You jagg offe, Eagles floats 0; they float, do they Dandy, I saids Dandy raised the finger of his right hand and looked at it sayings They never ruffel their feathers, he hes We got into Dandys Cadalac, and the soft heat passed over our heads, open to the skys A convertable was so fresh and easily warm, We came oyt of the park, and drove through the coal mining towns, with red lights shinning here and there beneath the hillaides; My search is my life, I thought, My wonderment is in the dim view ‘that moves above me and sometimes before meg I can not see everything from underneathg byt the blackness is cool now, Yes, the wind is gentle, It caresses me as we glide along, but never away, Why are you in a Cadalac going through shabby towns? Because you have desired to feel the inbetween ripping from the outer points of two worlds’. I sometimes desire to be you Dandy, or you Murphys You are honest, I know that, because I have seen it, But there is something elses Show me your dreams Michael, said O'Dandy, Catch them while they are passing between those stars you stare ate They covet meg and I am afraid to explod in a way that would take me beyond thems Than misery is yoyr preference, he said, Whitch do you like Michael, Rock and roll or jazz? Rock and roll, 1 saids Do yo, like symphony?

Original Scan

Page 163

AI Interpretation

GPT

O'Dandy argues that music taste follows money, memory, and the need to avoid explanation, then folds sex, cash, and shattered dreams into the same lesson while Michael turns the talk back toward the crash, the lawsuit, and the dead men left on the West Virginia road.

The page is coarse but sharp about class, especially in the claim that symphony is something one can afford to like. What begins as musical talk ends up back at bodily cost, because every preference is being measured against wreckage, money, and survival.


Claude

Driving in O'Dandy's Cadillac convertible through coal-mining towns at pre-dawn, Michael asks to be shown his own dreams; O'Dandy replies that misery is his preference and probes whether Michael likes rock and roll or jazz.