Page 168

By Jack Joseph Smith

Shuned Now that in America I know nothing but death When I was in a foreign pLAcE Every one died all the time Money was slight enough Crossing seas for beer Those who have been there are laughing when they read me Those who have not, or pretended I guess laugh also I suppose hurt and trouble should not be mixed up But I think they should

Original Scan

AI Interpretation

GPT

The speaker contrasts knowing death in America with deaths in a foreign pLAcE, anticipates readers' laughter, and insists that hurt and trouble should be mixed.

The page offers the speaker's recollections and expectations, not verified travel or death reports. Its final reversal is explicit rather than an OCR error.

Claude

'Shuned' sets 'Now that in America / I know nothing but death' against a past 'When I was in a foreign pLAcE / Every one died all the time', where 'Money was slight enough / Crossing seas for beer'.

Readers split into 'Those who have been there' and those who 'have not, / or pretended', and all of them laugh; the close insists 'I suppose hurt and trouble / should not be mixed up / But I think they should'. These are the speaker's recollections, not verified travel or death reports.