Page 92

By Jack Joseph Smith

of his garden, She turned to me and said, do you want to be with her? With who? i watched you from the window when the party was so dim and everyone was locked in rooms or lying on the floor, I even saw boys drinking and their faces were strange, You kept wandering around and looking at hers She is so wi¢ked with the lock she Wears on her belt and the way she leans on the fence and talks to Cat Man when all the Lincoln b,ms are shooting crap beneath her skirts I went to the party because I am the leader and I had to take the others, But do you want to be with her? Are you thinking of her now? to you see her when. l you ask me to dance? I don't lmow how to dance that way, or I would for yous Have you ever been? Have you ever been all the way with a girl? I mean, I lmow I shouldn't ask you, But you are so sweet to mes! And I am really not afraid when you want me to dence for yous But I don't know hows Who are you I say, when my mind is away and not praying in this pews’ I only see you fleeting through me in a pssing memory, Your eyes so shining beneath your veil of wedded white, There is no blackness covering you as the other girls in blues : The nuns are singing atrained, the puzzle of their throats unseen, Where did their voices twitch and miss the chance? Youre such a flower, Please be with me in hand, when we are walking, We are young, but let them think, Someday I will dance for you, ,if you want me toff,I don't like here Why didn't i Loner Aw ; you ask me to come? Even Father Iggggpgan almost said he hated her, when he called her mother evil from the alters You are his favordtes Everyone lnows: that. Every j day I watch you play basketball now from the balcony. The sisters think I am really silly, the way I delights

Original Scan

Page 92

AI Interpretation

GPT

A flirtatious, half-dreaming exchange gathers around a girl, her dancing, her veil, and the danger of wanting her under Papa Joe's watch, with desire and religious discipline pressing against each other.

The transcript opens mid-stream, but the central tension is clear: she is both devotional figure and forbidden companion. Papa Joe's presence hovers over the scene as a threat strong enough to turn romantic talk into fear.


Claude

The lower-church dialogue with the girl begins: she saw him from the window watching the party girl with the lock on her belt while the Lincoln bums shot crap under her skirt — jealousy framed as whispered prayer.