Untitled ("We knew things before men did")

By Jack Joseph Smith

We knew things before men did We knew diaster Downwhere violence is like chalk on an old black board Rape and murder is a way of life and so is organic foood The goverment drawa our guys out And it is true, they want to do it anywhere they look I would not sleep with a man or a women No one shares my bed through that dooor It winds me up saying sush to the kids, but I got a disk, of "The Outlaw Josie Weles"

Original Scan

AI Interpretation

GPT

The speaker says We knew things before men did, describes violence and government drawing out our guys, and refuses to share a bed. The speaker then mentions quieting the children and having a disk of The Outlaw Josie Weles.

The speaker combines collective knowledge with a refusal of intimacy. The page leaves the identity of we and the setting unstated; its claims about violence do not establish the writer's biography.

Claude

The poem says 'We knew things before men did / We knew diaster', that 'violence / is like chalk on an old black board', that 'The goverment drawa our guys out', and ends with 'a disk, / of "The Outlaw Josie Weles"'.

The statements about violence and government are the poem's claims, not facts about a community. The film reference brings an outlaw story into the speaker's home.