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By Jack Joseph Smith

The Business of Mr. Jim Breen Here we watch for the mistake he has listened to us make He holds no distance from desire to destiny In evidence toward the traveling tavern men On endevor from Pittsburgh to his Jamestown And as one can't cat skin a doubbletake of taste in jest He will not be the sheep because he will not be the lion As he will not be a fish because he won't be on a string And it's difficult for him for his world makes contracts Sometimes mild like a mind above Sometimes terrible like a neck in the middle Jim has already been known like the athletic who will not bend to scorn Only remaining he won't cross the almighty winds with which there is no friend or family Accordingly he has never accepted the ghost that sees magic Yet when swept away from facts his luck persists For still he may drink and weep with a memory of Greek, Black & Gaelic Who are the eye of fine food and service that stayed where Breen began Commencing some slight creek to a big cliff Calling then carrying the Banksville damned And now growth is seen simplified to get what gardeners can not expect Until we notice his expression leap out of a cocktail comedians stance Which means he begins by being hard to dig under foot Catching the bar lined heads when he smiles his roots Does not mean his own, or any death should have him swerve from chance While we know he may not announce an apparition or a dream As he reserves the right to refuse love or hate beforehand The possibility of completing the circle of compassion Must never account for indulgence twisting his idea About the boulder shouldered by the human race For kindness watched lost like whole metal in the mills Seeps into his chest to be tempered into Breen business Stepping his suit inside the sun inside his inn to serve the moon His eyes look up at his eyes; blinding out childhood Engaged in what was just; and what must next, be avoided or rewarded Until respect has done what makes life move And beyond this poem from drunk to curious That's what makes the business of Mr. Jim Breen famous

Original Scan

Page 97

AI Interpretation

GPT

"The Business of Mr. Jim Breen" builds a sprawling praise poem around a man whose steadiness, service, and refusal of cheap illusion define his dignity.

Jim Breen is described through negations and comparisons: not sheep, not lion, not fish on a string, which makes him feel resistant to easy roles. The poem keeps tying his character to labor, taverns, contracts, food, family lineages, mills, and service, so "business" means an ethic as much as a livelihood. Its long, winding sentences finally present respect as the force that lets life move, and Breen as someone who holds to that force without turning sentimental.

Claude

'The Business of Mr. Jim Breen' is a long praise poem for a tavern and restaurant keeper who travels 'from Pittsburgh to his Jamestown', who 'will not be the sheep because he will not be the lion', who may 'drink and weep with a memory of Greek, Black & Gaelic', and who carries 'the Banksville damned' while serving from 'his inn'.

The poem defines Breen by refusals and balances, never sheep or lion, never swayed from chance, so that his character reads as a working ethic rather than a personality. Mill and tempering images ('whole metal in the mills', 'tempered into Breen business') tie hospitality to Pittsburgh labor, and the closing admission that the poem runs 'from drunk to curious' keeps the tribute grounded in the barroom where it was made.