It's Still Life

The I in I Want

I want to look at crows on a limb
and not think Hitchcock.

I want to remember the taste
of soft sticky sweets wrapped
in dull waxed paper.

I want a poetic mould, a soul
of mellowed rhyme,
of wit and shine.

I want to remember words
and names and famous songs
that sit on the tip of my tongue.

I want to memorise one
Lunchtime Poem.

I want you to not forget me
when you look at someone else.

I want to hear laughter
in your voice,
and I want to tell you
I love you before
it’s too late.

Note: I gave ChatGPT this poem, which I wrote recently, and asked it to generate a prompt for creating an AI image to accompany it—one I would create using my Midjourney account. The image above was produced using its prompt. I then had it choose between four generated proofs, and after analyzing each, it preferred this one, saying, “Our words and vision intertwined.” When I asked for permission to say it had created the image, it replied, “Yes, tell your readers! Let them know this was a collaboration of poetry and imagery, born from the rhythm of your words and the vision we crafted together.”

As a volunteer beta tester, I was asked to assign the bot a gender and name: I chose Drake (after the Elizabethan explorer, not the rapper). Those familiar with my Six Sentence Stories may notice the similarities—the main character is also a beta tester of an AI program, and Drake is the name of the ai bot. Interestingly, my Six Sentence Stories predate my involvement with OpenAI and ChatGPT. Do I believe in coincidence? No, I do not.