Page 47

By Jack Joseph Smith

Thought phanomial aspect of fire, The ingulfing The taking without quench, this is thought The times not told about, the licence of gossip Now you see, to late to hurt Acknowledgement as steady as iron, the force, the hammer clear 6our dangerous and obnoxious brain, it is clear that you are alone, its containment never being done All singles nothing, whitchcraft, or taking your job, you don't care, humor is not snide, joy is going on Make every trail a wilderness place Nature will reach the city as a grace Don't let the end take you apart Stare down like rain the violent As strong as the old, good as country lace The masters are dead when they become our youth Men keep the keys when there farm is taken from them Thought is the period where there is no ground for assult Eyes in the ice are what you already knew by instinct Courousness is first and leaves you last Give the rest a chance, it's your thought

Original Scan

AI Interpretation

GPT

The speaker treats thought as consuming fire, social pressure and an unfinished effort to give others a chance.

The speaker connects acknowledgment with iron, force and a hammer, and describes instinctive knowledge as something already known. The command clear 6our dangerous and obnoxious brain precedes the claim of being alone; 6our is retained as written. The opening contains the source word phanomial, but an omitted word before it prevents a complete reading of that first statement.

Claude

'Thought' defines its subject through a chain of images: an 'aspect of fire', 'The taking without quench', 'the licence of gossip', and acknowledgement 'as steady as iron, the force, the hammer'. It moves through commands, 'Make every trail a wilderness place', 'Don't let the end take you apart', to aphorisms such as 'The masters are dead when they become our youth' and 'Thought is the period where there is no ground for assult', ending 'Give the rest a chance, / it's your thought'.

The poem treats thinking as both consuming and protective, a fire, a hammer and a refuge from attack. Its long unrhymed lines mix accusation, advice and pastoral hope, with a brief rhyme in 'place' and 'grace'. The closing turn hands thought back to the listener as a responsibility rather than a possession.