Page 145

By Jack Joseph Smith

Across The Ally Maybe she is Spanish, Black, not shit Asian oh my god sure; I'am so fucked up,, she might be white I am just, just like a genus I did not get old and think it I knew when I was in love at twelve years old I am not saying you don't have to be smart to find her Go steady as you go Stick with one till they tell you no Pick the dream up Keep it with you It will never end

Original Scan

AI Interpretation

GPT

"Across The Ally" turns drunken, racially charged uncertainty about a girl into advice about carrying first love as a lifelong dream.

The speaker is wrecked and visually unreliable, and the handwritten insertion makes the opening more volatile before the poem settles into an older certainty about desire. The crossed-out peaking leaves the line stranger and more self-exposing: he is just, just like a genus. The poem links twelve-year-old love to a code of persistence: go steady, stay with one, keep the dream in hand.

Claude

Across The Ally: maybe Spanish, Black, Asian, might be white. Knew when I was in love at twelve years old. Go steady, stick with one till they tell you no.