Page 13

By Jack Joseph Smith

The grass we found just as birds together going to tips of trees Was away in a wagon stuffed like grain with bodies of fellows quite furrowed with rolling mostly with what concerns the universe We didn't attempt to figure it out Cause we had bigger stuff to do Listen, water was so precious, but Denny Phillips never asked for a drink And that graveyard many times fell final to the hit over the fence in softball But we were tougher than an acorn Down under the limestone denny Philips and me were involved with worlds of men subtracting nature in drills of confrontation Denny laughed, always lauged; he seemed to know the exposior I took it serious and formed a gang Maybe it would become riggt not to be with Denny Phillips in his death Maybe me weakness is a respect for sex But then one should refolutionary be ably to cross over though twenty years be blind behind them

Original Scan

AI Interpretation

GPT

The speaker remembers Denny Phillips through water, graveyard softball, confrontation, laughter, and the uneasy persistence of male loyalty after death.

The page keeps shifting between games, graveyard, confrontation, and long aftermath. Denny's laughter stands against the speaker's seriousness; the preserved misspellings and odd phrasing keep the voice raw rather than polished. The final lines make loyalty to Denny's death something the speaker wants to cross over, even with twenty years behind him.

Claude

The Denny Phillips elegy deepens into oddity and aftermath: a wagon 'stuffed like grain / with bodies of fellows', water so precious yet 'Denny Phillips never asked for a drink', and the graveyard that 'fell final / to the hit over the fence in softball.' 'Down under the limestone' the two were 'involved with worlds of men subtracting / nature in drills of confrontation.' Denny 'always lauged' and 'seemed to know the exposior' while the speaker 'took it serious and formed a gang.' The strong-band page preserves spellings 'lauged', 'exposior', 'riggt', 'refolutionary', and 'ably', and ends on a raw confession of weakness and the wish to 'cross over though twenty years be blind behind them.'