Page 53
By Jack Joseph Smith
By Jack Joseph Smith
Original Scan
AI Interpretation
The revised poem describes a forceful father from Missouri, then addresses Narrow and Fletcher through warnings about nature, work and war. Handwritten notes add real estate, a man's work and a dream about a busted toe before the American Eagle's final reply.
The writer revises commands and images on the page, changing who acts and who receives the warnings. The eagle's response introduces a speaker other than the father, but the unresolved his and with annotations leave the ending's grammar open. The restored revisions do not justify treating the father's portrait as a verified biography.
'FLETCHER 3' opens 'The Father of Missouri is willed / The Father from Missouri is wild' and builds a portrait of 'the Man' who 'believes in action', with hand insertions such as 'REAlistATE EYES / A MAN's worK', a second section on 'Mr. Narrow' and 'FLEtchEr', and a closing exchange in which 'the American Eagle' replies 'Ever though my master will be you'.
The many insertions keep the poem in draft form; LoNgiNg and CrowEd are provisional readings of short hand additions.