Page 106

By Jack Joseph Smith

Speaking then: when whatever it is that "maKES you speak i say that it is what is: [the question if there are any in the spacing between things.] that the best poetry is about a man caLLed A Than B and 1+1 equalling two later but first i Think it gatherS in the sermOn of whatever it is that makes things GRow not down (that's a SERMON for you putting the A in Things) where They belong ... that the heat of The BEST makes the worst that much betTer .. if readers were poets and poets only spectators

Original Scan

AI Interpretation

GPT

The writer considers what makes someone speak and the spacing between things, then describes poetry as about a man called A Than B. Addition, growth and a sermon-like aside lead to readers as poets and poets as spectators.

The equation and growth imagery accompany a reflection on speech. The crowded cursive rows and arrow complicate their order, and the fragment does not supply a finished theory of poetry. An unmatched opening quotation mark is retained in the second row rather than silently paired.

Claude

A handwritten reflection: 'Speaking then: when whatever it is / that "maKES / you speak i say that / it is what is:', that 'the best poetry is about a man caLLed / A Than B', a 'SERMON for you', and the closing 'if readers were poets and poets only / spectators'.

The note plays with poetry as both logic and growth, and ends by imagining readers and poets trading places. The quotation opened before maKES is never closed, and the case of several words is provisional.