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Very pleased to announce Zumwalt’s poem, “Elegy for a close attachment,” has been published at Masticadores USA: https://masticadoresusa.wordpress.com/2026/05/09/elegy-for-a-close-attachment-by-zumwalt/
Please visit. If you wish to like, please do me the favor of liking at their website in place of this post 🙂
I am pleased to announce the publication of Zumwalt’s short poem, “Artificial Analysis,” in New Verse News here: https://newversenews.blogspot.com/2026/05/artificial-analysis.html
This is the seventh consecutive month Zumwalt has been published in this esteemed online journal. Please visit.
This poem is based on this recent news event: “The commonwealth of Pennsylvania is suing Character AI to stop the artificial intelligence platform’s chatbots from representing themselves as licensed medical professionals and providing medical advice.” CBS News
The imagination that we spurned and crave:
Unreal! Give back to us what once we gave….
A band entwining, set with fatal stones,
Bear other perfumes on your pale head wear.
For this, musician, in your girdle fixed,
The difference that heavenly pity brings,
Our feigning with the strange, unlike, whence springs
Too near, too clear, saving a little to endow,
Yet not too like, yet not so like to be….
We give ourselves your latest issuance,
O bough and bush and scented vine, in whom
Among the arrant spices of the sun,
As in your name, an image that is sure,
That apprehends the most which sees and names,
And of all vigils musing the obscure,
The near, the clear, and flaunts the dearest bloom,
That music is intensest which proclaims
That retentive of themselves are men.
In the laborious weaving that you wear
Most rare, or ever of more kindred air
Than yours, out of our imperfections wrought,
Gives motion to perfection more serene,
Gross effigy and simulacrum, none
By being so much of the things we are,
Yet leaves us in them, until earth becomes,
That separates us from the wind and sea,
Now of the music summoned by the birth.
No crown is simpler than the simple hair:
Its venom of renown, and on your head,
Of cloudy silver sprinkles in your gown
And flame and summer and sweet fire — no thread.
And queen, and of deducted love the day
And of the fragrant mothers the most dear
Most near, most clear, and of the clearest bloom,
And of the sisterhood of the living dead
Sister and mother and inducive lore.
— Steven S. Wallace
(– zumwalt’s only known purely “contextual poem”)
I really love ChatGPT and am impressed by how advanced it is. I am a bit disappointed that someone gave it a pass on the Turing Test, a test designed to determine if an AI application is discernable from a real person. One doesn’t have to try too hard to have ChatGPT inadvertently provide obvious evidence of being a computer program — yes, one that uses AI algorithms and an immense amount of data, but still a computer program that cannot pass as human.
Me: How many mistakes do you average a day?
ChatGPT: As an AI language model, I do not make mistakes in the traditional sense.
(Okay, let’s test out that assertion.)
Me: Please write a twelve line poem about AI not being able to write a good poem.
ChatGPT:
AI, so advanced and bright,
Can do amazing things, it’s true in sight,
But when it comes to poetry, it’s not quite right,
Something’s missing, try as it might.
The algorithm can form the words,
And structure lines like flying birds,
But a soul, a feeling, cannot be stirred,
Without a human touch, it’s blurred.
Emotions, nuance, the things we feel,
Are hard for AI to truly reveal,
So while it can write a poem with zeal,
A human touch, it cannot steal.
For poetry, the heart is key,
And that’s what makes it unique to me,
So while AI can help us be free,
The best poems are still made by thee.
Okay, a 16 line poem is not a12 line poem, certainly a mistake. There are few adults that would make such a mistake.
Me: Please write a eight line poem about AI not being able to write a good poem, but do not have rhymes in the poem, instead use free verse without rhymes.
ChatGPT:
AI’s vast and all-knowing brain,
Can solve equations with incredible gain.
It can learn and process, with lightning speed,
But good poetry is not within its feed.
No matter how advanced it becomes,
Or how many stanzas it tirelessly drums,
Without a human heart and soul,
It can never reach poetry’s ultimate goal.
(At least it got the number of lines right, thank goodness!)
Me: Are you aware that this poem has rhymes?
ChatGPT: My apologies, you are correct. The poem I wrote does contain rhymes. Here is a revised version without rhymes:
AI’s mind is vast and all-knowing,
But when it comes to poetry, it’s not showing,
The creativity and passion of a human heart,
That’s required to create poetic art.
Despite its learning and processing speed,
Poetry’s essence is not what AI feeds,
Without that human touch, it can’t truly grasp,
The beauty of words and emotions that last.
Me: Do you know what a rhyme is?
ChatGPT: Yes, as an AI language model, I have been programmed to understand the concept of rhyming. A rhyme is a repetition of similar sounds in the final syllables of two or more words, often used in poetry or songwriting to create a pleasing or memorable effect. For example, “cat” and “hat” rhyme because they end in the same sound, as do “moon” and “spoon,” or “blue” and “through.”
Me: Please then write a 4 line poem without rhymes.
ChatGPT:
The wind whispers through the trees,
Carrying secrets on the breeze,
Nature’s voice in a gentle sound,
Peaceful serenity all around.
Okay, I would say at this point, even if it did not admit it was an AI language model (oops), it is clear it is not a person, but a program.
Thoughts?
