Page 40

By Jack Joseph Smith

Mystical vegtable grower. Lover of the river. Modern day calm Cain returned believer Crop to market man now smiles at each incident of survival WhilE He spreads his land of Bibical space open to the refugee picker Blood letting rug wildLifE slaughterman. Clean knife cutter. Coming through piNK flesh bETWEEN SKiN & boNE as if it were his own WouNd Spread Bear hidE hung across the blue air Bent back face-head where wind moves curled fur dares ancient memory to the first sculpture of man while a city witness must scratch his deliberate cheek As-if it wErE swallowed up by thE sound burried tunnEL of thE in dArk hAiry dEAd EAr of thE bEAr Noon. Potatoe Factory lunch break. From the plankings we see F.B.I. all over the farm town street. Granny Lawrence say, "I sure do hope those boys get away." This was their third bank, but one more down the line they killed a cop It was a couples job And when they went to the city It was more of the gossip that got them caught Rainbowed eyed little ladies willful gaze And at no less than ten beckons YEArs of LiviNg Romantic sun from Gothic moon ThErE Anarchist man of land in loam he sees, BEiNg far enough gone to steal for LovE is cLosE ENough to do it, Children's History Gracefully River dredgEMEN 100 Ralt Coon LoMELANd truck Logger Davy CrocKEt ruNs - off thE roAd LAughs At foldEd bumpEr As hE hEAds for A lAst go LoAd. ANd Now whEN discRipTiON NEEds NO NEEd for MAN to ENd bEcAUSE would do thAt. CArL LEe Roy Rush

Original Scan

Page 40

AI Interpretation

GPT

The page revises portraits of a grower and slaughterman, then recalls bank robbers in a farm town. Further fragments describe a gaze, an anarchist, river dredgemen and a truck logger, with separate margin notes and names.

The writer revises the physical imagery of skin, bone, a wound and a bear hide. A truck-logger fragment now includes a folded bumper, while the bank-robber scene belongs to the narrator's account. Many insertions and detached notes remain provisional, so the page does not support identifying a real crime or its participants.

Claude

A revised typed sheet with handwriting: the vegetable grower and 'Blood letting rug wildLifE slaughterman', the potato factory scene where 'Granny Lawrence say, "I sure do hope those boys get away."', a note that 'BEiNg far enough gone to steal for LovE / is cLosE ENough to do it,', and a handwritten portrait of a logger who 'LAughs At foldEd bumpEr'.

The page layers several drafts, and many struck rows stay omitted; the surviving fragments tie rural crime, love and work together.