Page 6

By Jack Joseph Smith

But I sware every romantic plant in the world comes down to the bottom of my george to suck up the tears The Thunder of Faulkner because my aunt told me he was from Mississippi AND All about daylight but I did not read the Bible because I thought Jesus was from West Virginia I HAVE ALREADY Lived THE FIRST HALF OF THE BIBLE, AND I AM NOT THIRTY YEARS OLD, PAUSE for thought My arms away like a movie in the wind sway I see the universe even in the daylight of being born I have tried hard to touch myself high and low with and without music The dog is on the porch or set inside of the front door, He propably knows loneiness better than I STOOP AROUND HERE BETTER THAN A STOOP

Original Scan

AI Interpretation

GPT

The speaker associates romantic plants and tears with Faulkner, whom an aunt says was from Mississippi, and with Jesus and West Virginia. Handwritten Bible and age claims accompany self-touch, music and a porch dog described as knowing loneiness, with a further stoop annotation.

The speaker describes literary and religious memories before looking at the universe in daylight and trying to touch themself. The handwritten of being and born link that looking with birth. The dog and stoop material brings attention back to the house; crowded insertions prevent a settled reading order.

Claude

A heavily revised draft beginning 'But I sware every romantic plant / in the world comes down to the / bottom of my george', with insertions such as 'The Thunder of', 'AND All about daylight' and 'I HAVE ALREADY / Lived THE FIRST HALF OF THE BIBLE, AND I AM / NOT THIRTY YEARS OLD, PAUSE for thought', and a dog that 'propably knows loneiness / better than I', ending with the margin fragment 'STOOP AROUND / HERE / BETTER THAN A STOOP'.

Literary and religious references (Faulkner, 'the Bible', 'Jesus') are mixed with porch and dog imagery, and the handwriting adds a self-description about age and scripture. The insertion order is uncertain, so the page is a working draft rather than a settled poem.