Monday's moderator is Ember!
Sarah (Ember) Bricault:
Sarah Bricault has a PhD in neurobiology and currently works as a postdoc in that field. Her fascination with the mind and how it processes information often finds itself in her poetry, as do themes related to mental health. Sarah's work can be found in Brown Bag Online, High Shelf Press, The Poeming Pigeon, Beyond Words, Wingless Dreamer, and elsewhere. For more information on Sarah, check out SarahBricault.net.
Prompt for Monday: AI & love poems
Today I'd like to explore the difference between what AI-written poems we might imagine versus what AI-written poems typically sound like, using the love poem as the medium.
Part I: Love poems by chatGPT
To begin with, here is a partial transcript of my attempts to have ChatGPT write a love poem.
chatGPT: write a 10-line poem about love avoiding cliches without using the word love
In the depths of souls, our worlds entwine,
A bond of hearts, a rhythm so fine.
With every glance, our spirits align,
In a dance of emotions, beautifully designed.
Through life's stormy seas, we find our way,
In the gentle caress of night and day.
No need for words, our feelings convey,
In the symphony of us, we're here to stay.
In the canvas of time, our colors blend,
A story of two, where beginnings never end.
Note how generic it sounds, despite a strict adherence to rhythm and form.
I tried adding in some specificity for flavor:
chatGPT: Please write a 10-line poem about love avoiding cliches without using the word love. It should be a love poem and should reference tea and stained glass.
In the teacup of life, our flavors blend and bind,
A brew of emotions, complex, intertwined.
Like stained glass windows, our colors shine,
In patterns unique, a love so undefined.
Amidst the fragrant leaves, we find our brew,
A steeped connection, deep and true.
Through every sip, a shared avenue,
Where souls converse in a quiet hue.
In the gentle warmth of our teapot's glow,
We find the essence of love's soft flow.
This is definitely a little better, but still very predictable. Let's try to increase the specificity:
chatGPT: Please write a short poem about love without using the word love. It should be a love poem and should reference tea and tangled hair. Include an oblique reference to space and chemistry and not liking to cut flowers. In the chemistry of souls, our bonds are brewed,
Like tea leaves steeped, our flavors renewed.
Tangled hair like cosmic threads, we're entwined,
Exploring vast space, in hearts and in mind.
No blooms we sever, their life we'd not impair,
For our love's a canvas, colors rare and fair.
In the tapestry of us, a story of sweet hours,
An artful creation, nature's finest flowers.
Better, but still lacks anything truly unexpected.
Part I: Love poem "by" an "AI" (written by a human)
This poem ties in elements of being an immigrant and woman, so whether the speaker "is" an AI is fully the point of the poem.
Part III: Prompts!
When I examine the AI-written poetry, it strikes me as very like my own early attempts at poetry. In what ways is AI-written poetry like a child or new writer of poetry? Do you expect AI-written poetry to ever be able to generate truly unique metaphors or turns of phrase? Why or why not? Write a poem comparing your own poetic development to the development of an AI understanding poetry as its programming becomes more complex.
How can you take something generic and give it spice and uniqueness? Take one of the above chatGPT poems and use it as the base of your own poem. Slice and dice it, reinvent it, rebuild it into something wonderful!
In her poem, Franny Choi uses the idea of a test for sentience/humanity as a way to explore her own relationship to country and/or gender. Take a fundamentally technical process and use it as a metaphor to examine your own experience with something. For example, using Tetris as a metaphor for being overwhelmed with daily responsibilities.
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