Children Raised

By Jack Joseph Smith

You were no good to start with The only reason you ever stood up for yourself, is because of assholes that said they were better You changed the diapers, cloth of many too Put them on your shoulders, all the time, and seasons never changed no matter where you were Had the footballs, the basketballs, the baseball balls, the socker balls, the bats from the third from the former, the corcaee hoops first than balls in you will, the tennis rackets and balls again, the very bad mitten, with a loss yo pool and ping pong due to a working cellar Who cared? How about C,C,D,; bible studies, call it what you like I hope you had hunting and fishing I hope you had skinning and milking I didn't. I had a can of beer in my hand however Always at the gas station It's a flower shop now Good luck farm guys, maybe you got something, that will remember you Violin & SMART PAINTING BALLEG & TELECOPE CROQUET

Original Scan

AI Interpretation

GPT

A speaker addresses someone who raised children, listing diapers, sports equipment, religious lessons, and missed pastimes. The speaker remembers a beer at a gas station and wishes farm people something that will remember them.

The opening insult makes the inventory of care sound defensive, but the speaker also records sustained effort and regrets. A working cellar and the gas station locate these memories around labor. The closing wish for remembrance gives the account a fear of being forgotten; the page leaves the identities and relation of speaker and addressee open.

Claude

'Children Raised' addresses someone who 'changed the diapers, cloth of many too' and lists the sports gear of a childhood, from 'the footballs' to 'the very bad mitten'. The speaker contrasts it with their own: 'I hope you had hunting and fishing' and 'I didn't. I had a can of beer in my hand however', and ends 'Good luck farm guys, / maybe you got something, / that will remember you'.

The poem mixes resentment, care and self-reproach in one voice, without settling who 'you' is. A handwritten margin list, 'Violin &', 'SMART PAINTING', 'BALLEG &', 'TELECOPE' and 'CROQUET', reads like other pastimes but has no insertion mark, so its relation to the poem is uncertain. Reading the poem as the author's own family history would go beyond the page.