Beginning

By Jack Joseph Smith

We were born Paper airplane hats went around turning out the lights The white sheets were starched enough to creak And the nuns had still starched wings for breasts too While the orphanage warden was a laymen Who was the one coming in wearing a black tie To carry out the order that it was to black for light He was as busy as a nun without a saint And the nuns were as numb as a statue without blue paint The assistants carried pencils and pads But they didn't wear robes They got to wear skirts (while) They told each other in secret they didn't want to do it So the reason for the skirts was that they were still to loose for Jesus WHEN the lights went out on the demand of a SIREN That had TO BE GOD'S whistle to us It was all in the nature of duty's novice obedience To go to the switch To the ends of the corridor Issuing us the new sounds of blackness And to the edge of each others white cloth Is where the nuns pale hands were touching We infants, knew blackness was not unusual But the big DOCTORPRIEST seemed right from the whispers While we were to late to know it was World War II 1941 immediately young And Los Angeles was afraid of Japan

Original Scan

Page 82

AI Interpretation

GPT

Speaking as part of a group of infants, the speaker describes an orphanage warden, nuns, assistants, and lights extinguished at a siren's demand. The speaker closes with 1941 and Los Angeles afraid of Japan.

The speaker compares institutional clothing with wings and paper airplanes while linking the blackout to duty and divine authority. The remembered scene belongs to the poem's voice and does not establish the author's childhood history.

Claude

The poem begins 'We were born' and pictures an orphanage of starched sheets, nuns and 'The assistants', where lights go out at a 'SIREN' and 'we were to late to know it was World War II', ending '1941 immediately young / And Los Angeles was afraid of Japan'.

A wartime nursery is imagined through sound, darkness and cloth, with dry humor about its keepers. The scene is the poem's account, not a verified record.