Page 121

By Jack Joseph Smith

Then Colonel became embarrised. There was no rea- son to explain the past. They had come to enjoy one- another as the Beat House had begun to take shape. They had been personality associates. The Colonel's idea of making it in the world on one's own, ment to him that he could never be made a fool of. To Animal on the other hand, memory was just another verbal hand tipping him out of this world, trickster. Colonel asked of Animal; "Who is the head monk?" "The Father, the Son, and the Holy Groots; Budda; Jesus, and money;" "Money is not the Holy Ghost Animal." "To money it is." Next to where they sat was a money lenders window in the corner, opening from a booth behind the wall. Said Colonel, "every friday night,, someday the man from that office gonna be pass'en out checks to my people, and they ain't going to be signed by no ghosts." Animal held his glass up: "This Liquid will swallow A big fish around Little fish. Of co- urse it's surrounded by glass and that makes it look clear like finished art until we're inside of it." In the laugh- ter, "Everything in this city is temptation", Budda is

Original Scan

Page 121

AI Interpretation

GPT

This page makes money the blunt counterforce to mystical language, exposing how street metaphysics and practical hustling keep sharing the same room.

Colonel and Animal are not simply opposites here. One speaks in survival terms and the other in symbolic leaps, but both are trying to explain what rules this city, and the answer keeps sliding between spirit, appetite, cash, and the distorting image of the glass in Animal's hand.


Claude

Money is used here as blunt counterforce to mystical language, exposing how street metaphysics still runs on rent. The page refuses to let talk escape economy.