Page 61

By Jack Joseph Smith

Work Not a dream, a wonder, a chance as well Go have in your hand, all stories can tell Danger as a child, meanong what is next is good To think like a fool when your not at work is fine Clean the line Make the way of cement Better than a filbert tree Twisted and streight Makes no difference with iron and steel All the way from the ground And up to places no one else willl be, and back below ground to places most can't hold on to see It's work with a will With a willingness not to let it go

Original Scan

AI Interpretation

GPT

Cement, iron, steel, and the descent below ground turn work into a willed passage through places most people cannot bear to see.

The page defines work as a practical, almost ritual movement through cement, iron, steel, height, and underground space. The final handwritten continuation, 'not to let it go', makes willingness feel like grip, endurance, and refusal to release the work itself.

Claude

'Work' begins 'Not a dream, a wonder, a chance as well' and allows that 'To think like a fool when your not at work / is fine', then turns to building: 'Clean the line / Make the way of cement', 'with iron and steel / All the way from the ground / And up to places no one else / willl be'. It closes, with a handwritten ending, 'It's work with a will / With a willingness not to let it go'.

Short plain lines give the poem the rhythm of a task list, and the images move vertically from ground to heights and back below ground. The ending puns on 'will' and 'willingness', making work a matter of grip and persistence rather than reward.