Page 38

By Jack Joseph Smith

: The abide at the-end of civilization She (the older sister) stood ‘with her baby: in her armsson: tlie old North Side Bridges Steel. rivited, iron forged’ curves::buldged by ruste at the middles At the edge; while she 2(the younger sister) watched; From a distance>the younger ‘had followeds And now steod stoppeds. , ; ee? , AT what’ was -the-AlleganY"a-beginning, and’ ending, for Manchester! g specail Wh ala Kadiecitien - had ‘teen shifted'off their homes :on the-HE1T Dig- i trict, "and it wasn't pretty down here-om the-riv~ - era" a . But’. the baseball stadium would go up ‘soon, "or at least during the next year or two," and that would bring space during their move to the next holes ov Night and Allegany. Under Pittsburgh lights ; Red ‘and Blues - Dancing the:colors:ef oil’ ddwn the-waters > . A whistle and a paddle wheel pushing coal. : The-barge the -river men want: to Teavey. thinking, (outloud ‘not outlawed) "I'1l close -my mind forever. to-it ati the -puslt of’ the tavern door," oe 4 — ee re:

Original Scan

Page 38

AI Interpretation

GPT

Two sisters on a bridge are set against North Side displacement, river industry, and the hard glow of Pittsburgh at night.

The scene is both intimate and civic. The older sister, baby in arms, stands at an edge while the younger watches, and around them the poem maps demolition, stadium-building, oil on water, paddle wheels, and tavern speech. It reads as a social landscape poem where private crisis and city redevelopment become impossible to separate.

Claude

Heavy OCR damage on a longer piece set at the `end of civilization` — two sisters on the old North Side bridges of Pittsburgh, rivets and rust, a younger sister following at a distance, the Allegheny, coal barges, and a man wanting to `close my mind forever / to it at the push of the tavern door`. One of the book's most textured scenes even through the damage.