Page 16

By Jack Joseph Smith

Quest I did not have far to go until I got there And it did not appear there was a thought left to have It had been quiet at first, but the crowd roared as I got near Christ changed through the three crosses, and the thumb in my heart; I knew even thunder could overhear Desolute as your time at a crossroads Every map and known thing in my head, became a quess Nothing on purpose would ever be done again For there was nothing to listen to, that I had not fallen from The knack for survival gives every animal and insect the truth On the backs of his sea of humanity And old man raises his glass, To the sorrow he has crossed

Original Scan

AI Interpretation

GPT

Nearing Christ and the three crosses dissolves map, purpose, and certainty until survival itself becomes the only remaining truth.

The quest becomes an arrival into disorientation: maps become guesses, purpose disappears, and survival is recast as animal truth. The handwritten closing image of an old man raising a glass to crossed sorrow gives the page a ritual ending.

Claude

'Quest' describes an arrival that took no distance: 'I did not have far to go until I got there', a roaring crowd, and 'Christ changed through the three crosses'. Every map in the speaker's head 'became a quess', nothing 'on purpose would ever be done again', and the page ends with an old man who 'raises his glass, To the sorrow he has / crossed'.

The poem treats a spiritual destination as a place of disorientation rather than answers, where certainty collapses and only 'The knack for survival' remains true. Its flat, declarative typed lines give way to a handwritten toast that closes on grief survived. The crossing of crosses, crossroads and 'crossed' sorrow ties the images together.