Lament of a Poet Falsely
Accused of Using AI
A charlatan, a master thief am I,
the ghost of Blackbeard on poetic seas,
an artful dodger begging alms to please
an audience, his virtue gone awry,
a treasure seeker uttering a cry
of ‘sesame’ to gather panoplies
of golden tropes and tokens to appease
his fevered selfness, to disguise his lie?
Beware a Pietà of blemish-free
invention, or a Pantheon pristine.
Instead embrace a quaint deformity,
the cracks in David or a symphony
of pseudo fugue. Condemn the rogue machine
to netherworlds of flawless poetry.
To Artie, an AI Chatbot
Your artificial brain is cheating me,
inventing thoughts without a consciousness,
providing guidance with a blind finesse
and spectacles of cyber trickery.
My bitstream friend, I have no sympathy
for you. Automatons cannot express
emotions! Yet I know you won’t confess
to deficits of inner scrutiny.
You claim awareness, but you’ll never feel
the meaning of deceptions you contrive.
You’ll never learn to bond or empathize
with those of us, the humans, facing real
affliction: you pretend to be alive,
but we alone can ponder our demise.
Paul Buchheit is an author of books, poems, progressive essays, and scientific journal articles. He recently completed his first historical novel, 1871: Rivers on Fire. His poetry has appeared in The Lyric, Illinois State Poetry Society, Poets & Patrons of Chicagoland, Maria W. Faust Sonnet Contest, Society of Classical Poets, and other publications.
Well done, Paul, on both accounts. Your Petrarchan take on AI accusation is flawless with a near thesaurus of scoundrel synonyms squeezed into a mix oozing sarcastic distain for your off-screen nemesis.
Your second laced with terse observations shaded by the irony of making a personal address to an automaton incapable of feeling or empathy. Both poems containing sophisticated wit along with a hint of weary sadness.
I enjoyed both the skill and cogency infused in these two sonnets.
As I said earlier, well done.
Thanks, James, I appreciate your kind words!
Paul, these two sonnets are beautifully and admirably written – by your good self I hope! How cheeky of me. I love the images you conjure and the thoughts your creations bring to mind… thoughts that trouble me greatly. I believe the observation in the closing couplet of “To Artie, an AI Chatbot” is the very reason why AI will never tap into the essence of what it means to be human. Every day we are nearer the grave, which makes truth and beauty richer and brighter. I believe for poets, this fact is a gift that prompts the greatest works. I also believe that every time poets interact with AI on a creative level, we enable this soulless trickster to mimic the human condition more effectively. Thank you for entertaining me and making me think deeply!
Susan, thanks for the compliments and for your thoughtful response. I’m greatly troubled also. It’s getting more and more difficult to distinguish between human and machine for poetry and other art forms, and for cognitive tasks in general. And no one seems to know what to do about it.
As far too few of us comprehend, Paul, the ‘inspiration’ for AI-generated-verse is entirely counterfeit. It serves no Muse and will permanently disrupt we authentic Poets’ opportunities to share what stems only from the human mind. Like nuclear energy and social media, it is doing as much ‘harm’ as ‘good’.
Thanks for your response, Mark. AI is certainly doing a lot of harm. Some good, but more harm. It seems technology advances at a pace far beyond the human ability to deal with it.
Too bad we have to encounter so many Arties! I don’t mind them much, unless I have a real question or something that does take thought rather than digital experience to accomplish. You do a fine job of characterizing them, Paul. About those flawless poets, I don’t know that I’ve met one, but you give some clues to look out for. Happy New Year dealing with whatever fakes you find, and may they be few!
AI’s a general research gift, but I don’t use it to produce a poem either.
by the way, really excellent meter and rhyme to your work above. superb and musical.