Page 40

By Jack Joseph Smith

The abiss at the end of civilization She took the baby and dropped it Over the rail of the bridge. The allegany River. With the pittsburgh lights. It was her sister Older and unsure For she had confronted Her younger sister Who had seen Played Hamlet And shouted at the croud To be quiet during her speech. A pin dropped. And the visiting high ranks Must have talked so That I heard the Monseinor talked To the mayor over brandy about the Talent this fourteen year old girl Had as an actress.

Original Scan

AI Interpretation

GPT

Bridge, river, sisterhood, theater, and civic authority are fused into a tragic scene where personal crisis and public reputation collide.

The page feels like a narrative poem built from remembered catastrophe. What makes it unsettling is the way a child's talent, family rupture, and official male attention all enter the same field, so art and danger become inseparable.

Claude

The dropped-baby sequence is resolved: the older sister drops the child over the bridge rail into the Allegheny under the Pittsburgh lights. Then the same fourteen-year-old actress plays Hamlet and silences the crowd — the Monsignor and the mayor talk about her talent over brandy. Tragedy and applause arranged on the same page.