Page 313

By Jack Joseph Smith

Time be watching, like checking it's wrist against the street Moon or desert Sun, no sorrow with this view of the end, and is there another place to chose to be less strong, and it shakes me, having nothing to do with the world but a viewpoint Put up in Paris, he holds his hand around a spindle top,an iron gate, and watches the Middle East; pay the rent, then paint the door; get the bullits, then get the gun, it is a slope, isn't it, not a mountain Not a pretence, close as clothes

Original Scan

AI Interpretation

GPT

Time watches like a wrist-checking force while Paris, the Middle East, rent, paint, bullets, and guns collapse history into a close, sloping viewpoint.

The poem begins with cosmic scale, street moon against desert sun, then reduces everything to the pressure of a single viewpoint. Paris and the Middle East share one line of sight, which makes private living and geopolitical violence feel horribly adjacent. Paying rent, painting the door, getting bullets, then the gun, turns catastrophe into a slope rather than a mountain, something gradual, wearable, and close as clothes.

Claude

Time watching its wrist against street moon or desert sun; no sorrow in this view of the end. Paris, iron gate, watching the Middle East; 'pay the rent, then paint the door; get the bullits, then get the gum, it is a slope, isn't it, not a mountain / Not a pretence, close as clothes.'