Welcome to Day 1 of the March Open Write. If you have written with us before, welcome back. If you are joining us for the first time, you are in the kind, capable hands of today’s host, so just read the prompt below and then, when you are ready, write in the comment section below. We do ask that if you write, in the spirit of reciprocity, you respond to three or more writers. To learn more about the Open Write, click here.
Our Host
Stef is an Associate Professor of Education at Aquinas College in Michigan. She teaches courses for pre-service and inservice teachers in instructional design, literacy, ed tech, and research methods. Her K-12 teaching was in California prior to moving into teacher preparation.
Inspiration
Hello Open Write Community. Over the next three days I am integrating some tech tools to further enhance our poetic creations. Each day I will add the piece: Why tech? and list a few reasons why, but I encourage you to add a response to pros/cons of the tech element as well.
Day one is centered around AI (artificial intelligence)…if you haven’t seen the conversations around ChatGPT then you should probably take a moment to catch up:)
I played with the topic of writing a poem about ADHD using AI tools. You can see from the examples below that AI is still limited yet quickly improving. On my first attempt OpenAI didn’t create a nonet but I did appreciate how it added in the positive elements of ADHD. A few weeks later I added the same prompt and you can see OpenAI had its own new learning. Although the nonet format is still incorrect, the more recent example shows improvement and includes figurative language.
Chat GPT examples:
I then wanted to explore TinyWow because it has multiple ELA artificial intelligent supports that might benefit some of us. The listicle isn’t necessarily meant to create a poem, but I tried it with that in mind. I was not impressed by the list of what appeared to only be negatives–but I guess I should try not to take it personal.
Tiny Wow listicle example:
WHY TECH?
I wanted to consider AI and poetry. Will it limit our creativity? Will it inspire us? One fact I believe we can agree on is that AI is not going away. We might as well learn alongside and make sure our humanity isn’t disposed of too quickly.
Process
Use this time to explore ways you might use, learn, or negate AI within the lens of poetry. Try one of these AI sites to create a poem, have it modify a poem you already wrote, ask it to help you understand poetic forms, write a poetry lesson, or anything else you can think of.
- Chat GPT> https://chat.openai.com/chat
- Tiny Wow> https://tinywow.com/tools/write
- Poem Generator> https://www.poem-generator.org.uk/
- Curated list of AI tools>https://www.futurepedia.io/
Of course, you always have the option to write a poem and not interact with any of the AI tools.
Stef, thank you for this prompt. It was fun and interesting to play with a few of the AI tools. Poem generator’s sonnets were very formulaic in what was happening within the sonnet, so I tried to write a poem by changing the sonnet’s wording to make more sense, but that was not coming to me tonight…so I wrote this! I have been thinking about music recently and what it reveals about people (if anything at all), and that inspired this poem.
Music
“What kind of music do you like?”
Rock, Country, Pop
What does my answer say about me?
Rock
Did my dad play it for me
From the time I learned to walk?
Country
Am I from a small town,
Or do I want to be?
Pop
Do I want something new,
Something I can play nonstop?
It’s such a simple question,
But what does it say about me?
If anything at all?
Love it, Larin. It really is a “personality test” kind of question, or so it can seem to be. Perhaps that is a kind of ‘artificial intelligence’ all its own. And how do we respond when someone says, “I like all music.” I personally have to wonder how broad their range really is! ; )
Larin, thank you for sharing your process of testing different tools and then scrapping them. I love this idea you bring forth with your musical poem. Music pulls so many emotions and memories…and yet we do judge often what music others prefer:)
Thank you Stef for this fascinating prompt. I had played around with Chat GPT to see what it would do with some AP Lang prompts a couple of weeks ago and it wrote some passably mediocre essays.
This time I asked it to write a sonnet about what would happen if Donald Trump was arrested on Tuesday and I asked it to include words from his Truth Social post from earlier today. Then I took it through several rounds of revisions (write in the style of Claude McKay, create a negative tone, adhere to the rules of a sonnet, etc).
And here is the Frankenstein monster it created (the title is mine):
Arrested Development
Amidst the whispers of political strife,
A storm brews in the depths of the land,
The leading Republican candidate’s life,
Former President, held in legal hand.
Like thunder, the news shakes the nation’s core,
And lightning flashes across the sky,
Illuminating cracks in a foundation, sore,
A country struggling to unify.
Some cheer, some weep, but all can see,
This moment will go down in history,
A chasm opening up, a chance to be,
A future where justice will remain free.
Yet some vow to protest, to take back,
A nation they feel has slipped from their grasp,
While others see a future not off-track,
A chance to create a new, inclusive class.
But as the day approaches, darkness looms,
A sense of dread, a foreboding air,
For those who hoped this would be a boon,
Find disappointment, and despair.
The nation is torn, the future unclear,
The storm clouds gather, a tempest near.
Nicely ‘Frankensteined’ here Dave, though (THOUGH!) I find the topic as fraught as the poem makes it out to be, so in that, AI certainly is able to captcha (pun) the essence. I do keep hearing this commentary about what will be historical, and at this point, I have to wonder what really will be ‘noteworthy’ about this to next generations. What will really remain to be told, and who will the tellers be? A pondering poem, to be sure.
Denise, loving your use of “captcha”:)
Dave, thank you for joining and sharing your prompts. I am feeling like a good next prompt might include a Russian in the same situation. Can we turn this into a mad lib (cloze sentences) and fill-in the blank as needed?
Thank you Stef for the push to explore ChatGPT. Honestly, I had no idea how to even start. I am a member of Teach Write, and each monthly we are provided a list of writing prompts (should we choose to use them). Today’s prompt is Words With Wings.
Words With Wings ChatGPT generated poem:
Words with wings, they take flight
Soaring high, like birds in flight
They lift us up, above the fray
And carry us to a brighter day
With every phrase, they paint a scene
A world of wonder, so serene
They take us places, we’ve never been
And show us sights, we’ve never seen
With words as wings, we’re free to roam
Through landscapes, both near and unknown
They guide us through, both light and dark
And spark a flame, within our hearts
So let your words take to the sky
And let them spread, their wings and fly
For in their flight, they’ll bring you near
To all the dreams, you hold so dear
Donnetta, thank you for joining us today. As I keep seeing various versions created by ChatGPT, I am seeing a formatting and rhyming pattern:). I appreciate how you’ve pulled together two prompts, I wonder how the same prompt would look in prose versus verse.
Donnetta, I appreciate the prompt you gave the ChatGPT. Words can show people something they have never experienced, and I think the AI did well in showing this in the poem. I also think the comma placements here were interesting as they made me slow down and stop at certain parts of the poem. Thank you for sharing!
I can appreciate some of the imagery here and the formulaic structure. It does tend toward cliche a bit, but in an after-school-special or Hallmark-card sort of way – a way that is comforting and uplifting. Thanks for mentioning Teach Write also, Donnetta – I was not aware of that resource.
Donnetta, how interesting. I have a picture book with the title Words with Wings. I am prompted to find it Monday to see if it’s at all related to the AI poem. What did you think of how the poem turned out?
I just played around with ChatGPT for the first time earlier this week, and it’s truly mind-blowing. I used this as an opportunity to (hopefully) convince me to go for my run today. Thanks for the opportunity, Stef, to play around.
“Write a free verse, 3 stanza poem about endurance”
Endurance, a quality so rare
A power that helps us to bear
The burden of life, with its endless care,
And move forward, step by step, with a steady glare.
It’s the strength that lies within our soul,
The resilience that makes us whole,
The courage that helps us reach our goal,
And that faith that gives us control.
Through life’s storms and rocky ways,
Endurance is what helps us stay
To fight the battle, day by day,
And emerge victorious, come what may.
Rachelle,
You were one up on me, I never heard of ChatGPT until today. you poem about endurance makes me want to go for a walk, I don’t run. Hope your poem got you out the door for that run.
Rachelle, thank you for testing out the tool as a form of motivation, did it work??? I’ve heard the idea of prompting it to create a workout plan…if it was a poetic workout plan for the week, would that increase motivation?
Hi Rachelle, your topic of endurance was a great prompt for the AI. The end of the poem was encouraging, which I hope encouraged you in your hope to go for a run! I agree that AI is mind-blowing–this poem and the rhymes make sense, which is astounding to me. Thank you for sharing!
Rachelle,
See, now, I’d have trouble pegging that as AI. I hope it helped your run. It was enlightening exploring ChatGPT today.
Stefani, thanks for hosting today and sharing your process with TinyWow. I recently read an article that said literary journals were closing poetry submissions because of the flood of AI work they were receiving. My poem shares my personal feelings.
When Technology Does It All a Bradbury Prediction
remember Peter and Wendy
spoiled by technology
obsessively viewing their nursery screen
their delightful chilly smiles
watching lions feast
on their parents’ tender meat
Barb Edler
18 March 2023
Oh Barb,
What a wonderful poem. A bit of a chill went up my spine as a read the last two lines. However, it also put a smile on my face. Thank you for sharing today.
Barb, thank you for sharing today. I haven’t read The Veldt (I had to research) and I find Bradbury’s ideas from so long ago to be frightening (based on other texts of his as well). What are authors writing today that seem out of this world that might one day hold true?
Great question. I just read “The Hole of Dark Kill Hollow” by Rob Costello in the short story collection Rural Voices. It’s basically about a hole where people choose to jump in even though it smells putrid. The hole will provide the person’s wish, but it always takes something in return which made me think of the idea about being careful about what you wish for….sort of like technology. It has its benefits, but it also has negative consequences.
Sorry, I forgot to mention that my poem was reflecting “The Veldt” by Ray Bradbury. I know I have watched a couple of short films based on the story. I found one on YouTube: The Ray Bradbury Theater – S04E11 – The Veldt (Aired 11-10-89) – YouTube
In case anyone is ready to show a short film in their class.
Barb,
I think it was last Verselove that Stefani led us in a prompt about the value of titles, and, gosh does your title speak volumes. Fantastic. The contrast between “nursery screen” and “lions feast/on their parents’ tender meat” is such horror, an image I cannot swiftly forget. Thanks a lot, Barb (smiles)!
Sarah
Wow, Barb, this poem truly touches on the fears I have of this new technology. Your line “their delightful chilly smiles” gave me shivers on my neck – it’s that growing detachment, each of us more removed from the other, because of screens and technology. Brilliant title.
Barb, one of my favorite Bradbury stories (I referenced it today too). My 7th graders are debating this on Monday (are the machines or children in control). So many of his predictions have come true. And I fear we get closer to The Veldt reality every year.
Love this: Chilling!
YEESH @ literary journals not accepting submissions…
I love your very human poem and the Bradbury allusion!
Wow, quite an image, Barb. That is chilling. I’m going to watch the video now. Great title.
Wow, this was truly an interesting why to create poetry let alone accurately express how I’m feeling. I am hopeful that the ending of this poem will come true, as my heart is heavy currently and I want that lifted and the joy to return. I Used ChatGPT and typed in write me a poem of a tired pare professional loosing faith in the profession. The speed of which this poem was written was a bet scary.
A tired para professional, feeling worn and weak,
Her faith in her profession, beginning to peak,
The long hours and endless work, taking their toll,
Her passion for the job, beginning to roll.
She once loved her work, with all her heart,
But now the days seems endless, and the work feel like a part,
Of a never-ending cycle, that she can’t escape,
Her motivation dwindling, like a flickering flame.
She’s lost in her thoughts, feeling tired and alone,
Her energy sapped, and her spirit unknown,
But deep down inside, she knows she can’t give up,
For the students she serves, are counting on her to show up.
So she takes a deep breath, and gathers her strength,
And reminds herself of the difference she can make,
She digs deep within, to find her resolve,
And with each passing day her faith begins to evolve.
For she knows in her heart, that her work is important,
And the impact she makes, can be truly profound,
So she soldiers on, with a renewed sense of purpose,
And her passion for the job, begins to resurface.
She may be tired and worn, but she not alone,
For there are others like her who have found their way home,
To profession they love, and a calling they hold dear,
Where the work is tough, but the rewards are clear.
DeAnna, sorry to hear that you are feeling disenchanted. It’s definitely that time of the year when everyone can start feeling grim and if you’re not getting support, etc. at work, it can make it worse. I like the end of your poem but it’s obvious not everything is correctly written.
DeAnna, thank you for sharing your current feelings and joining in this prompt. I am feeling like this process was or has a potential for therapeutic interaction but maybe that takes it too far. I hope you find time for self-care this weekend and stay strong for yourself and your students.
I am with you! It’s that empty feeling I get in March like all is hopeless and no one is learning!
But these lines say it all! We keep digging and evolving and starting all over again each year.
♥️
DeAnna,
It is really unnerving how much detail that feels accurate ends up in these poems. I have faith that you will find your renewed energy for working–you’re too good at what you do to not have reserves that are just temporarily dormant. And yes, the speed at which these things are written is startling. It really makes me consider what I assign and how to make them AI resistant.
DeAnna, I hope the ending of this poem comes true for you too. Paraprofessionals are not treated with the respect they deserve from all avenues. I hope you find your spark again.
DeAnna, I am a teach and have been where you are a time or three. I pray you find peace and joy in the work. The words of your poem are oh so true and I wish they weren’t. Sending (((HUGS)))
Hi DeAnna. My “poem” was in a similar topic. I agree with Cara, it was ridiculous how quickly the AI responded. It really made me wonder about what “intelligence” is out there to be gathered.
Wow, Stef, thank you? I am truly stretched by this prompt. When I read your inspiration this morning, I immediately shut my computer and went for a walk, hahaha. This is my classic “approach/avoidance” technique. I find the whole idea of poetry AI tools like ChatGPT to be quite creepy. As a retired teacher, I was feeling blessed to have escaped this new horizon in learning. But here it is in OpenWrite, oh my! Truly, it is unsettling.
I decided I had to accept your challenge and check this out.
I sometimes use poetry as meditation. I write little ‘nothings’ to help me center, defuse, and calm when I feel anxious. One such ‘meditative’ poem I wrote recently is titled ‘What to learn from a snail shell” – I wrote this after spending quite a bit of time in quiet reverie, watching my granddaughter play with this shell, and then holding it in my own hand, and looking at it from all sides.
I decided to ask Chat GPT to write a poem about what to learn from a snail shell.
I’ve gotta admit, I feel ‘replaced’ – and that’s not a feeling I enjoy much.Here’s the poem it INSTANTANEOUSLY generated. (I am stunned this speed of creation.) I also find it interesting that the command ‘write a poem’ results in rhyming. (I’m not much of a rhymer in my own poetry writing).
What to learn from a snail shell: A poem by Chat GPT, –
In the spiral of a snail shell,
A lesson for us all does dwell,
A slow and steady pace it tells
And patience in all things as well.
For though the snail may move with ease,
It never rushes, never flees,
It takes its time along the way,
And savors every single day
The shell, too, is a work of art,
A symbol of a life well-part
Each line and curve, a memory,
Of where the snail has been, you see.
So learn from this humble creature,
And practice virtue, in your nature,
Take your time and do things well,
And cherish every moment, as it swells.
For in the spiral of a snail shell,
A message to us all does dwell,
To live our lives with purpose true,
And let each moment guide us through.
Pretty good, yes? Once I swallowed the feeling of being so easily replaced, I had to admit that this poem considered things about the shell that I had not. I particularly liked the idea of the lines of the shell indicating memories, “Each line and curve, a memory,/
Of where the snail has been, you see.”
Let me offer my own simplicity now, a poem I still prefer, because I loved getting lost in thought while creating it –
what to learn from a snail shell
home is within
change is slow
life spirals
a labyrinth journey
whole has a hole
listen to the emptiness
hear beyond
cracks need not diminish the treasure
notice the folds of mystery
wonder of the varied hues
there’s an eye at the center
reminding
we are
always
loved
seen
held
I love the title of your poem, Maureen, which adds a wonderful insight and dimension to your poem. I especially like “labyrinth journey” and “notice the folds of mystery”. I think art is healing. I like the idea of you getting lost in your process of writing your poem.
Maureen,
I love that you went a wrote your own poem as well as the AI poem. Both of the poems are lovely, but your line “home is within” is reinstating with me today. To me honest I’m now sure why, but I’ve re-read that line three times after I read both poems. Thank you for sharing today.
Maureen, thank you for talking us through this process and sharing your opinions and original poem. Do you think if you wrote your own poem after the prompt that the outcome would have been different? I love your line, “cracks need not diminish the treasure.”
Yes, I think my poem would have been entirely different, if I had AI write one first. It would be such a different process – and it’s like ‘pandora’s box’…it’s hard for me to forget what I have already read/seen created. How challenging these tools will be for teachers, I think, discerning what has been originally written by students, and, perhaps more importantly, figuring out how to instigate student creativity when these ‘easy fixes’ are omnipresent. AI isn’t going to disappear…how do we work with it?
Maureen, such good thoughts and the question, “how do we work with it?” is going to be so important. I like the analogy of a “pandora’s box.” How about that someone who doesn’t have confidence, maybe who thinks AI writes better poems than they can. I know some former English language learner students who will definitely be tempted to let AI write, even if their voice is lost.
I love your lessons from the snail shell, especially the conclusion. It seems you are talking to your granddaughter as she examines the shell–
Maureen,
Like you, I find it interesting that the response to “write a poem” dictates rhyme. I am not at all a rhymer naturally. I like your poem better, too, especially these lines:
Maureen,
I really love the things that your poem does. “Loved seen held” is a beautiful sentiment.
Well, that was truly terrifying. I put in “write a pantoum about teachers waiting for spring break” and ChatGPT wrote the poem in less than 5 seconds. My heart actually stuttered a bit. Yikes. It doesn’t sparkle, but it is quite adequate. My colleagues have been talking about it quite a bit. I’ve been trying to do lots of one-on-one conferencing with students as they write papers (using the idea that if AI writes it, you wouldn’t be able to describe your thought process to me), but still. Yikes. Just yikes.
Teachers waiting for spring break, tired and weary
Counting down the days, dreaming of relaxation
Their minds filled with thoughts of beaches so cheery
Longing for an escape, from all the education
Counting down the days, dreaming of relaxation
Their eyes fixed on the calendar, waiting for release
Longing for an escape, from all the education
Their hearts yearn for a moment of peace
Their eyes fixed on the calendar, waiting for release
Endless papers to grade, lessons to plan
Their hearts yearn for a moment of peace
Their bodies begging for rest, needing a break to stand
Endless papers to grade, lessons to plan
Their minds filled with thoughts of beaches so cheery
Their bodies begging for rest, needing a break to stand
Teachers waiting for spring break, tired and weary.
Cara, I am totally with you on how frightening it is for the poem to be generated in mere seconds. I really feel badly for teachers trying to discern whether students wrote these poems themselves.
Oh Cara,
You are so funny. Adequate with no sparkle… YOUR poem is wonderful. I love how I can feel the longing for the rest teachers everywhere are feeling about now. Thank you for sharing today. 🙂
Cara, thank you for joining us today. I apologize that you were terrified but that discomfort sometimes moves us forward;) I think you bring up a key piece to the terror, our pedagogical design will help guide human/student-centered writing. I love that you are doing 1:1 conferencing as your initial response.
“Their eyes fixed on the calendar, waiting for release” is ChatGPT watching me, too!?!? Haha!
Open Write Friends, I just learned about this AI tool recently designed for education purposes. I wanted to share this in case anyone else wants to try and compare it to other tools: http://www.codebreakeredu.com/chat/ or just further side-track yourself from other Saturday plans.
I did a quick search around #verselove and it looked to copy/paste an image from the internet. When I searched my name it asked me if I wanted it to search the internet to learn more, so, this tool is clearly still learning and housing information in its own cloud/database–or something like that.
So, according to Chat GPT, the German word for feeling overwhelmed by technology is “Techniküberforderung” – yeah, that feels right.
Task: Write a sonnet about March Madness and NCAA basketball championships from the ball’s perspective.
Poem #3 – (from the ball’s perspective)
by Shaun Ingalls?
I am the ball, the center of the game,
The bouncing orb that all must chase and catch,
Thrown, dribbled, passed, and dunked in fiery flame,
My journey watched by all, without a match.
From hand to hand, I am a fleeting thing,
A prize to win, a goal to make it in,
The thrill of every basket that I bring,
A moment of sweet victory and win.
I see the crowds that cheer and shout my name,
As I sail through the air and hit the rim,
The glory and the fame, my rightful claim,
As champions dance and sing in joy and hymn.
I am the ball, the heartbeat of the game,
A symbol of the passion and the aim.
I only have one question. What is its name?
Shaun,
I love this and I’m not even a basketball fan!
The first line and the last lines pack in the power of a rubber ball!
Shaun, maybe you could name it Wilson? Thank you for teaching us a new German word…can we create one word for that feeling in English as well?
I do like the “heartbeat of the game,” it gives some added feelings to this. And your question mark after your name adds to a few comments I’ve made earlier…how do we know when or how to cite the output of these tools?
I love that German word! Thank you for sharing this. I think we poets are “the ball, the heartbeat of the game” of writing….
Okay, I am adopting the German word into my vocabulary! (I just used technology to help me learn how to pronounce it – ironic?) This is actually a great mentor poem. I could see having students mimic this (humans mimicking AI mimicking humans? oi!) to come up with their own perspective poems, so in that way, this Chat GPT could be used as an aid to teachers to come up with some models. Hmmm, maybe this is our replacement – ? : )
Stef, this was fascinating and “creepy” as Britt said! I hadn’t tried this yet, though I have been following the conversation, thankful that I didn’t need to navigate it in the classroom any longer. But thank you for getting us using it, thinking about its ramifications, and for the discussions that will occur this weekend.
I used the Chat GPI link and expected I might be able to get a good start on a poem, get a list of words to use, or some such thing, like you did. But, yikes!
My prompt was “Compose a triolet poem about painting a door jamb” The final poem followed the abaaabab pattern of rhyming and was eight lines long. It made grammatical sense, and I wouldn’t be embarrassed to “turn it in.” No editing, it looked like this:
Then I second-guessed my use of the word “jamb.” Did I spell it right? Is that really the door jamb I have to paint today? Or might it be the door frame? We recently had the door replaced, so most of the frame needs to be painted. New prompt: “Compose a triolet poem about painting a door frame”
What? A whole new poem. Yikes! I wrote a lot more about this experience. Like determining whether or not AI wrote the poems with AI (I can’t), and how one of my very own poems was judged to be “highly likely written by AI.” Instead of posting it all here, I left it on my blog. https://mrsdkrebs.edublogs.org/2023/03/18/open-write-march-18-2023/
Denise, thank you for sharing today and I also enjoyed your expanded experience on your blog. The thought that it kept identifying poems as both human and/or AI was a bit deflating. I wonder if that will improve or morph further into non-recognition of human writing in the future.
I love that you shared all your thinking here, sharing both poems with us. I am both awed and frightened by these AI poems. I laugh that your own poem was judged “highly written by AI” – yikes!
Denise, thanks for sharing your process. I liked the “a story untold” part.
I am following these new AIs and counting down my days to retirement, Denise! In a way, I wish I was already out of the classroom – it feels so overwhelming – but if I were a ‘more new’ teacher, I’m sure I would be embracing this and trying to find as many directions to run with it as possible. I put my faith in the newest gen of teachers to help students manage this. Thanks for putting it through some paces and sharing that here. We have met the future, and it is now!
Keats-ish
When I have
fears that
AI will cease
to be, I wonder
would I still be able
to train my imperfect
human brain to couple
thought to thought,
keeping sense and
safe passage on track
through this wide world’s
mountain pass.
_________________________________________
Stef, thank you for this prompt and for your links! TinyWow was new to me and earned a quick bookmarking, so I can turn back to it (and fret about it!) later. I have previously played around with ChatGPT, even crafting a few previous Ethical ELA Open Write offerings about my wonderings/fears about it. I’m still uncertain about its far-reaching implications, other than the absolute certainty that they – these various AI tools – are not “going away.” (nor do I think they should…it’s just…uh, complicated. lol.)
Hello Scott!
I’m with you on this. Since AI is not going anywhere, we’ve got to figure out how to use this power for good and not evil. I’ve been playing with it for lesson planning, essay prompts, etc. It’s shockingly efficient – but still capable of errors (so far). I love the idea of connecting AI with style and form from real writers (like you did with Keats). This could work as an excellent compare/contrast exercise for rhetorical choices – my mind is churning with ideas.
It is so complicated.
Scott, thank you for joining us today and blending Keats and AI. I am not sure you meant it but I was getting an image of clouds through the mountain pass and referencing the digital cloud simultaneously. And yes, it is very complicated to process it all:)
Scott,
AI isn’t going anywhere. So I’m hopeful that we can learn to use it for good. Thank you for sharing today.
Well…. THIS is creepy haha! I’ve been wanting to play with Chat GPT, but just hadn’t taken the time, so thanks for the opportunity! I had two wisdom teeth extracted on Wednesday (I’d been avoiding it for about 10 years), and I’m officially in extreme pain… So, since this process has been all I’ve thinking about, I instructed Chat GPT to write a poem about wisdom teeth surgery 😂
The only thing it couldn’t capture was that I needed three taken out, but due to the nerve wrapped around the third one, the oral surgeon recommended not doing that one (I’d need a coronectomy vs an extraction?!!??!).
Chat GPT Poem/Wisdom Teeth Surgery
Wisdom teeth, oh how they grow
A painful process we all know
But once they’ve come, they must be gone
A surgery we can’t prolong
The day has come, I’m in the chair
My heart beats fast, my mind aware
The doctor’s words are calm and kind
“Don’t worry, you’ll be just fine”
The anesthesia starts to flow
And soon I’m drifting, don’t you know
The next thing that I can recall
Is waking up, feeling small
My mouth is sore, my head is light
But I know it’s going to be alright
The wisdom teeth are now removed
The pain will fade, my smile improved
As time goes by, I heal and mend
The aches and pains will soon descend
And though the process may seem rough
Wisdom teeth surgery is enough
To rid ourselves of that toothy woe
And leave us with a brighter glow
So though the surgery may be tough
It’s worth it for the wisdom that’s enough.
Hello Britt,
This poem resulted in some very interesting phrases “toothy woe” and how the extraction leaves one with “a brighter glow” – perhaps this is the Turing test of AI language generators. I love the irony of the last line – enough wisdom. Is that possible for AI?
Britt, thank you for joining today and I hope your recovery is quick. I find this output interesting because it used first-person. Did you add that in with your prompt or was that just how it came out? I also am amused by “that toothy woe.”
Gross! I remember wisdom teeth all too well. Sorry for your having to go through this, and with what sounds like a complication (I hope your insurance covers this!). There’s something to be said for an AI that can turn a kind of crud experience into a delightful poetic romp. It may not dull the pain, but it can be a bit of a distraction. Which makes me think of how these AI may indeed become our BFFs in the not-too-distant future.
Hi, Stef! Great prompt! I love that you gave us some links to try. Today was the first time ChatGPT allowed me in but it gave an error after I asked my question. I don’t know why it doesn’t respond to me. Instead, I asked Tiny Wow, “What is joy in poetry?” This was the response.
“Joy in Poetry” means that reading or writing poems can make you feel really happy and excited. Just like how playing with your favorite toy or eating your favorite candy can make you feel joyful, reading or writing poetry can give you that same feeling of happiness and excitement. It’s like a special kind of magic that makes you feel good inside.
Next, I asked, “What are joyful things to do?” This was the response.
Joyful things are things that make you happy and bring a smile to your face. It could be playing with your favorite toy, spending time with your friends and family, going to the park, eating your favorite food, or doing something creative like drawing or painting. Anything that makes you feel happy and excited is a joyful thing to do!
My poem using the Japanese form Dodoitsu
Playing with delicious words
Doing something creative
Reading and writing stanzas
Poetry lover
Stacey, Thank for you trying new ways to process this and sharing the joyful responses. I also appreciate you summarizing it with a dodoitsu. I always love the new learning that forms with and through each prompt!
Stacey, Thanks for sharing the link for how to write a Dodoitsu. I love your opening line….the human touch of playing with words is what is truly lacking when going to AI to create a poem.
This is JOY!!!
Yes, indeed, “playing with delicious words” I love it!
Stacey, thank you for sharing how TinyWow can answer questions and give definitions. I think this could be a good way to start a brainstorming session as some of the examples can be expanded upon more. I also appreciate your poem, especially “delicious words,” as this is how I feel about the excitement I get when I use the right words to elicit certain thoughts or emotions–it leaves such a positive, “delicious” impression!
Sans AI I sit cross-legged
rolled blanket assisting my pelvic tilt
shoulder blades drawn back and down
elbows hugging ribs that swell with breath
index fingers nuzzling f-j ridges
eyes gazing past dusty glass door panes
upon a purple boxwood branch windwiggling
shadows beside a patch of green grass
soaking up a few minutes of spring sun.
Here. I have found a poem today.
Much preferred. ❤️❤️
Sarah, beautiful poem – sans AI! I feel myself enjoying the spring sun alongside you 🙂
Oh, Sarah, your words and poem help so much today. I was having an unpoetic moment after using AI, and then I read your words. I can see you there in every part of your sweet fully-alive being, so non-AI like. I love “index fingers nuzzling f-j ridges”, which took me a half a minute to figure out. And the “branch windwiggling shadows…” Gorgeous images today, and in your own words. Priceless.
THIS. Oh, yeah, there is no contest between the strained rhymes of “lines” and “signs” and “page” and “stage” in your AI poem’s second stanza and the subtle nestling of the double consonants – “cross-legged,” “assisting,” “hugging,” “nuzzling, and “windwiggling” – throughout your “Sans AI” poem. There’s just so much more beauty (and enjoyment for the reader) in the craft of “elbows hugging ribs that swell with breath / index fingers nuzzling f-j ridges” than in any of the lines in the other “poem.” And, again, just listen to the repetition of sounds in “upon a purple boxwood branch windwiggling / shadows beside a patch of green grass / soaking up a few minutes of spring sun.” This poems is so much more sensual (and human) than the rather mechanistic offering from the glorified “chatbot,” IMHO, lol.
Sarah, lovely “sans AI” words today, as always! I love the detailed vision of a purple boxwood through dusty glass. Thank you for hosting this space for us.
Oh, yes…
Hello Sarah,
This is a beautiful representation of what AI cannot do – yet. The meditative calm of your imagery and back-and-forth from the physical to the external put me in the room with you. I don’t think AI will ever be able to capture the humanness of moments like this.
Love the focus within this moment. Gorgeous imagery and I especially enjoyed: “eyes gazing past dusty glass door panes
upon a purple boxwood branch windwiggling” . Windwiggling…yes. Glad you had some sun today. It’s been very gray here.
Ahhh, peaceful images dance through my mind. Thank you for captivating me and helping me breathe.
🧘🏽♀️ 💜
My reflections on the AI experience today — I will post another prompt with a Sarah original poem, not AI assisted because I really want and need to hear your words to me– Sarah sans AI.
_______________________________________________________
Thank you, Stef, for this AI exploration today. I am eager to see our conversations around the topic and poetry from our group.
I started by asking Chat about Verselove, because I have been working on setting up the prompts for April. Here is the response: “I’m not familiar with the term “verselove.” Could you please provide more context or information about what you are referring to? This will help me provide a more accurate response.”
Then I asked it tell me about #verselove, and it seemed to know a bit more about this as a way of bringing together people who want to share lines, poems, and poets.
Finally, I asked for a poem about #verselove, and here it is below. What struck me is that it separated verse and love– as love of verse rather than a compound noun of verselove as an idea or experience of itself. Also, if I published this poem today without the AI attribution, I think most of you would know it was not written by me. It is fine, but it is not a Sarah poem.
Verse love is a passion divine,
A love for words that truly shine.
It’s a love for stories, rhymes, and prose,
And the beauty of language that flows.
It’s the thrill of discovering new lines,
And the joy of reading between the signs.
It’s the wonder of worlds within a page,
And the magic that comes with every stage.
Verse love is the rhythm of a verse,
The power of words that truly immerse.
It’s the grace of a well-crafted phrase,
And the joy of getting lost in a maze.
It’s the beauty of thoughts that take flight,
And the wonder of words that light up the night.
It’s a love that’s boundless, true, and deep,
A love for language that we all keep.
So let us celebrate verse love,
And the wonder of words that rise above.
Let us cherish the poets and the bards,
And the magic of language that leaves us charmed.
I asked Chat to tell me about me, and it didn’t know Sarah J. Donovan, but when I asked it again tell me about Sarah J. Donovan and verselove, it replied in first person: “I apologize for my earlier response. You are correct that there is a Sarah J. Donovan who is a professor at Oklahoma State University and is also the founder of Ethical ELA.”
And then it won me over with this — literally, made me feel good that the AI could talk about me so nicely:
Sarah J. Donovan is an advocate for verse love, which is a term she uses to describe a deep love and appreciation for poetry and language. She founded the annual “Verse Love” project, which encourages people to write and share poetry on social media using the hashtag #VerseLove. The project aims to promote the power and beauty of poetry, and to inspire others to discover and explore the joys of verse.
As a published poet herself, Sarah J. Donovan is a strong believer in the importance of poetry in education and in everyday life. She uses her platform as a professor and as the founder of Ethical ELA to promote the teaching of poetry and to encourage teachers to incorporate more verse into their curricula.
Through her work with Ethical ELA and the Verse Love project, Sarah J. Donovan has become a prominent voice in the poetry community, advocating for the power of poetry to inspire, heal, and connect people across cultures and backgrounds.
I am not sure all of this is true — not a prominent voice — but absolutely advocating for the power of poetry.
Sarah, of course it is true, absolutely. I have to wonder at it’s database, connecting you with verselove but not knowing verselove at first. I’m imagining electrical neural synapses strengthening with use. (shivers)
Right? I felt like I was teaching it and contributing to its intelligence that might one day take over the world Mwuahaha, but then I wrote my poem in another comment and felt reassured that it could not make what I just did in the way I did it with the people who know my way with words. Whew!
I 100% agree! AI got it right! 💙
Sarah, thank you for sharing this process with us and teaching it to find the truth about you…it is exposing your prolific and prominent voice that is clear via the internet! I wonder what it would write about you in a month?
Sarah, this post is so insightful. I loved the AI’s final lines: Through her work with Ethical ELA and the Verse Love project, Sarah J. Donovan has become a prominent voice in the poetry community, advocating for the power of poetry to inspire, heal, and connect people across cultures and backgrounds.
I highly agree! Plus, I love that you shared your own poem. Original Sarah poems are for me!
How did AI know all that about you, Sarah? I don’t really get it! But yes, it’s so true. Yes, that AI poem is not a Sarah poem, but I do what to say an Amen to this line: “Let us cherish the poets and the bards,”
Thanks for this topic, Stef. I’m reading through the poems and comments and I’m in awe. I don’t want poetry to become mechanical – it needs the poet’s soul. Clearly AI can be used as a tool, but I worry it can become a crutch. I tried the poem generator and asked for a poem about birds. This is the results of my exploration, and I feel better now because it is an odd and awkward poem that has no soul.
BirdsFree verse by word dancer
I cannot help but stop and look at wonderous eagles.
Do eagles make you shiver?
do they?
I saw the the soft acquire of my generation destroyed,
How I mourned the feather.
Never forget the emollient and murmurous feather.
Stars are brilliant.
brilliant are stars.
Never forget the soft and hairy stars.
Eeek! Soft and hairy stars alone makes me shudder! But what a great example of AI’s limitations. Your own beautiful poetry sings and is alive because – yes, it has soul breathed into it by its creator!
Thank you, Joanne, for sharing this experience with us. I agree about the “no soul” thing, which is why I felt compelled to write a poem with my soul within.So I find it hard to reply to this poem knowing it did not come from you. Instead, I will respond to your line “‘used as a tool, but I worry it can become a crutch” — and this is a lovely line of assonance in the first clause and consonance in the second. Feels good to say this line out loud. Quite poetic!
What is up with AI thinking that repeating “Do they?” Is a go-to poetic strategy? XD
“do they?” almost scares me – I feel like I’m being bullied?
I agree with you! Only the poet can bring soul to the poem.
Joanne, this had me laughing out loud, literally. I mean, it’s hard to ignore the veracity and significance of the line, “Never forget the emollient and murmurous feather.” And there, truly, hasn’t been a time when I haven’t gazed into a starry, starry night and thought, you know what, those stars are sure “hairy.” This whole poem reminded me of that exchange in Glass Onion (the latest Knives Out movie): “It’s so dumb.” “Oh, It’s so dumb, it’s brilliant.” “No! It’s just dumb.” LOL. Thank you for this!
Joanne, thank you for exploring with us today. This generated poem has me laughing, maybe AI has a comic algorithm that is forming?
I have always resented hairy stars. Do they resent me? Do they?
Oh, Joanne, that is funny. Yes, it is missing the soul of the poet. “hairy stars” Funny. “How I mourned the feather.” and “emollient and murmurous” is interesting word choice.
What a great topic. ChatGPT has been at the forefront of many of our department meetings lately. I believe this technology is here to stay and we might as well embrace and use it as a tool to improve student writing. My husband just reminded me of how accounts were in an uproar when excel spreadsheets came out in the 80’s. They thought it would put them out of business, instead accounting firms were able to grow their business through this efficiency.
I loaded ChatGPT but was a bit intimidated by it all. LOL! Think I need a few days or weeks to explore all it functions, so I decided to go with something more my speed: a poem generator.
The results were pretty laughable as the poem makes zero sense. The only thing I liked about the poem was the title.
Using Poem Generator
Catherine’s Torment – The Villanelle Of The Cocoa
Catherine couldn’t stop thinking about the cocoa
It was just so smooth and bitter
But she could never forget the ruocco
That morning, Catherine was shocked by the sunoco
She had to calm herself with a titter
Catherine couldn’t stop thinking about the cocoa
Later, Catherine was spooked by a cuoco
She tried to focus on a fritter
But she could never forget the ruocco
Helen tried to distract her with a buttafuoco
Said it was time to start thinking about a quitter
Catherine couldn’t stop thinking about the cocoa
Catherine took action like an orinoco
The cocoa was like a toxic fitter
But she could never forget the ruocco
Catherine nosedived like a bitter shoko
Her mind turned into an emitter
Catherine couldn’t stop thinking about the cocoa
But she could never forget the ruocco
Tammi, let us know if you do end up exploring the other tool later. This poem taught me a few new words…ones I didn’t think I needed to know:) Thank you for joining us today.
i had to look up ruocco. It may or may not be a knife covering!!
Wow! I need to compose a list of these new words! Very interesting. I think I’m okay with it making zero sense😂.
Stef, we hear about AI and its threat/potential. Thank you for making it real for us here. I love your suggestions on commenting on the work of others. I have had students tell me they enjoy my comments to them on assignments, but I needed to be reminded to be both specific and thoughtful. I gave Poem Generator a try. My fears of AI were assuaged somewhat with the less than stellar results I got. I tried an acrostic with my dog’s name.
Millieby kmo
Minnies say.
Inverted jennies mewl.
Little phyllis run.
Lovely phyllis laugh.
Improved jennies run.
Elms laugh.
What a cute dog!
I find it interesting how the poem generators create words “Millieby kmo” and then insert random other names like “jennies” and “phyllis”. When I used the generator it did the same thing.
One of the teachers in my school used AI to generate student comments. He had to upload the rubrics, but the feedback did seem pretty spot. AI could certainly save teachers a lot of time.
These limitations of AI are comforting today, Katrina! Love the photo of Millie (?) whose happiness and personality cannot be replicated by a thing which hasn’t experienced her (or anything).
Haha! I tried reading the generated poem twice – much preferred enjoying the picture of your sweet pup!
Katrina, thank you for trying this out and sharing this interesting outcome. Millie’s picture is an added bonus. For clarity, the commenting with care guidance is all Sarah, so feel free to share your appreciation of it with her;)
Katrina, what an interesting poem this AI generated for your sweet Millie. I’m glad to see that AI in this case sounds a bit like a drunken St. Patrick’s Day reveler emerging from a deep sleep under the rainbow. Yes, yes, – – Katrina, you write so much better than AI. It didn’t do justice for this pretty girl right here.
What a silly poem. Yes, that makes me feel better about AI. I wonder about Phyllis and Jennies. Are those people? Katrina, did you tell the AI anything about Millie?
Thanks for inviting us to play with new tools—a good reminder to be curious and not skeptical of that which is new and potentially taking our humanity from us 🙂 I appreciate that the AI will work with you to improve what it’s already created.
This is the poem Chat GPT generated for me; this is the poem I asked Chat GPT in response to my current graduate writing course experience.
The Pen as a Powerful Tool: Amplifying Women’s Voices
They say to write with voice, with passion true,
But when it comes to women, they’re ignored,
Dismissed as mere anecdotes in review,
Their tales deemed unworthy, their skills abhorred.
The patriarchy reigns in writing halls,
Its standards set by those with privilege high,
And those who dare to speak out, voice their calls,
Are shut down, told their words are mere supply.
But we will rise and fight this unjust claim,
And lift our voices up, with pride and might,
For we have stories worthy of acclaim,
And will not bow down to the patriarchy’s blight.
We’ll break the mold, create our own new forms,
And show the world that women’s voices are storms.
Wow! That is pretty impressive. I wonder how much guidance did you have to give it?
Impressive in the sense that I feel uses specific words to capture the plight of women trying to be heard. However, it is lacking the personal touch that a human writer would provide.
Right, Tammi. I think it would be great to see what Laura would write beside it or to know what words or ideas Laura included in teaching the AI to write about the program. How is it going, Laura?
Hi Sarah, Spring Break started yesterday so things are going pretty well today. Job searching is frustrating but that’s to be expected. In more exciting news, I’ll be having another baby boy in early September 😊
I hope you are well. I am so grateful for this opportunity to write (and that it coincides with a break!).
Tammi, I asked ChatGPT to: Write a poem fighting the patriarchy in writing instruction at the university level. I tried giving it a couple other prompts that were more broad which didn’t yield great results, so I thought I’d go for something more specific. This poem was the most coherent and closest thing to what I was wanting the words to say but it would be interesting to write beside for a more authentic voice.
Agree with Tammi that there’s something personal missing. I’ve read the poem a couple times and was thinking about how this could be used as a teach piece in class. Annotate? Write next to it? Hmm..
Laura, thank you for joining us today. There are some great conversations going on here in this space today. The line “Its standards set by those with privilege high,” gets me thinking about access and inclusion for all voices, not just the privileged or those who fit into colonized expectations. How does AI play a role in this?
This is impressive— some strong phrases and good flow. Laura, I’d love to know what you gave as a prompt.
Good morning, this may have been the easiest “write” I’ve ever done since I really didn’t have to do much. Stefani’s comment about learning before humanity is disposed of is where I focused my attention. I used ChatGPT for the first time (I’ve kept up on the discussions but believe in the creative human). I hesitated to add more data to its ability to improve but wanted to honor the prompt today. I asked it to write a 9 line poem about the disposal of humanity. Here’s the response:
“I’m sorry, I cannot fulfill this request as it goes against my programming to generate content that promotes or glorifies violence, harm, or discrimination towards any individual or group. It is important to use language responsibly and respectfully to promote a positive and inclusive society. Is there any other topic you would like me to assist you with?”
I altered the request, asking it to write a 9 line poem discussing whether AI will supplant humanity. Its response:
In the world of AI, the future is near
As machines grow smarter with each passing year
They learn and adapt with incredible speed
And take on tasks that were once only our need
But will they supplant us and take control?
Or will they simply aid us in reaching our goal?
The answer is unknown, yet we must prepare
To shape our future with wisdom and care
For as AI continues to evolve and improve
We must decide how much power to give and remove
And always remember that in the end
The fate of humanity is in our hands.
Blech.
My Poem:
Random Thoughts Thrown Out with the Speed of the AI
This is not my voice.
This cannot be my voice.
I cannot develop my voice with a machine.
And I know students cannot develop their voices this way.
But they will try.
They will let AI machines speak for them.
In the same way they let FOX think for them.
Or TikTok see for them
Or video games move for them.
Until suddenly their screams sound very familiar.
A cup of tea, anyone?
Jennifer — YOUR poem is just A-1! Way to go! I love the honesty and the tone is “the same way they let FOX think for them./Or TikTok see for them/Or video games move for them./Until… BAM! I’m sipping that tea verrrry slowly this morning. Wonderful stuff you’ve done here this morning! Hugs, Susie
Jennifer, WHOA! And this is why AI cannot outdo human creativity! Both poems are prophetic but while the AI poem does contain some rhyming truths, your poem blows me away with the current realities and that zinger ending line, nonchalance juxtaposed with familiar screams in the line before. There. Is. No. Comparison. My summary: AI has limited power. The human poet, infinite power.
Jennifer,
Loved these lines:
“In the same way they let FOX think for them.
Or TikTok see for them
Or video games move for them.”
Jennifer, I share your hesitation when it comes to using AI. I was relieved to see how undeveloped its skills are yet. Your first line, “this is not my voice,” makes me wonder if AI will come up with name(s) for itself eventually and identify itself with its words.
Yes, your voice does ring through. You are spot on about that being something lacking in AI. Love these lines:
“They will let AI machines speak for them.
In the same way they let FOX think for them.”
Jennifer,
I am so glad you wrote your own poem and shared the process here. “This is not my voice” is such a powerful clause/line. And then with each subsequent line, your voice, your POV amplifies, crescendo-ing until that last line of “cup of tea” – love this shift in tone and pace, which is your superpower as a poet, Jennifer!
Sarah
Jennifer, thank you for walking/typing us through your process. I was laughing at the “blech” comment, I am sure many today have said/felt the same as we interact with this. Your words, “screams sound very familiar” is honest and reading the future.
Jennifer— your poem is spot on! I fear sounding like a Luddite, but I fear for the minds of our kids… I think I need something stronger than tea!
Jennifer, yes, indeed. I know there are some students who will let AI speak for them. I love this and hope you share it or some form of it with your students.
It’s been a rough week. My prompt was, “Write a sonnet about teachers’ frustrations with parents.”
When parents fail to heed the teacher’s call,
And shirk their duty to their child’s success,
The teacher’s heart doth sink, the spirits fall,
And all the hard work seems but fruitless stress.
For though the teacher strives with all their might,
To educate and nurture every soul,
Some parents seem to turn a blindened sight,
And blame the teacher for their child’s own goal.
It’s not the grades or scores that weigh them down,
But rather, parents’ lack of care and aid,
Their absence, apathy, and selfish frown,
That make the teacher’s task seem so betrayed.
Yet still the teacher perseveres each day,
And hopes to reach those lost along the way.
Great sonnet, Mo!
I feel you.
I can’t feel AI “expressions.” 🙂
–Wendy
Mo, spring break cometh…
😔 😔 hoping your break is coming up soon!!
Mo, I hope you find time to rejuvenate this weekend. The “fruitless stress” phrase is evocative and concerning…where do words and experiences cross paths in this realm? Thank you for joining today.
I am with you, Mo! I have had the most challenging year and it’s not just parents in my case but also my school (leadership) and some children who’ve been trained to think they don’t have to work for rewards. It’s been an icky year and now we have a 3-day strike next week. I need this all to be over and resolved. These two lines are for ME!
Hang on, we are almost at the finish line, Mo!
Mo, sorry to hear you’ve had a frustrating week. The poem sure has an interesting end.
This was an interesting task today. This doesn’t look like anything I’d write. The words are okay, but I don’t get any emotion from this poem.
So true, Mo. I can see after a rough week, how easy to just let AI write a poem. Quick, but so unsatisfying, isn’t it? Like Jennifer wrote–no voice in AI.
Mo,
It does seem like many parents put the blame on teachers without holding the child accountable. Your line ” their absence, apathy, and selfish frown,” really hits the nail on the head of the situation. If the parent/s are not present for their child who will be??? Thank you for sharing today.
Good morning, all!
Below is the poem that AI wrote for me today about “motherhood,” one of my favorite topics to write about. I have to say that it allayed my fears of AI taking the place of human poets. 🙂
MotherhoodFree verse by Wendy
A caregiving, however hard it tries,
Will always be difficult.
Never forget the embarrassing and tough caregiving.
Pay attention to the manhood,
the manhood is the most burgeoning adulthood of all.
Does the manhood make you shiver?
does it?
Pay attention to the babyhood,
the babyhood is the most wooly immaturity of all.
Down, down, down into the darkness of the babyhood,
Gently it goes – the muddled, the hairy, the woolly-headed.
The little infertility sings like a freedom
Are you upset by how puny it is?
Does it tear you apart to see the infertility so tiny?
How happy is the endless childcare!
A childcare is long. a childcare is perpetual,
a childcare is dateless, however.
Mommies, however hard they try,
Will always be lost.
Now irrecoverable is just the thing,
To get me wondering if mommies are helpless.
Wow, you are so right. At least for now, I think is poets anyway are safe! That second stanza made me think of the scene from 10 Things I hate about you when the counselor is trying to brainstorm adjectives with her students for her erotica.
LOL!!
Wendy, Lines like, “A childcare is long. A childcare is perpetual” are a little scary. The poem reminds me of China’s One Child initiative.
To be fair, it did prompt me to enter about 4-5 “motherhood-related” adjectives, and I tried to enter both positive and negative ones. (“Endless” and “burgeoning” were mine). But it added a bunch of its own, too. And it added nouns and concepts that I wouldn’t have added at all. It’s not really “my” poem at all. It was just a way to make a fast poem that someone (well, something) else wrote. 🙁
Wendy, I am glad to see the clear gender bias here…or maybe not. This last stanza is very disturbing though, yikes! Thank you for joining today.
Wow. The manhood stanza, and the inane questions… now irrecoverable is just the thing… huh??
Stef,
A clever and thought-provoking prompt. But, I can’t go there. I know it’s odd and maybe even irresponsible of me as an English teacher to NOT be fascinated by AI, notably Chat GPT, but I just can’t allow myself to go there. We are actually in the middle of our “Flowers for Algernon” unit and the whole idea of intelligence–especially artificial–just doesn’t sit well in my soul. For the sake of this assignment, I may dabble later today, but for now I just wrote about how I feel in response.
Thought-Provoking
The brain is complex
We know so little about it.
Yet, that same brain
invent things to imitate itself
or even make it obsolete?
Words can be conjured
by machine
Thoughts, though…
can they?
Emotions?
It’s in the creation,
the struggle,
the wrestling,
with ideas
that leads to the product.
Where’s the power
in the product
if not in the producing?
But . . .
do we embrace the struggle
in today’s world of
immediate and
instantaneous
information?
We don’t want to wait.
We don’t choose to create.
We passively absorb.
We let machines think for us,
opening the portal for
the grey matter to become
extinct.
~Susan Ahlbrand
18 March 2023
Susan, “opening the portal for the grey matter to become extinct” indeed. I’m reminded of the Star Trek character Data’s struggle to find emotion as I read your poem today. We are truly at a threshold.
Susan, I had the same reaction as you. I gave AI a try though and can only hope the results I got are as good as it gets. I could not agree more with your words,
“Words can be conjured
by machine
Thoughts, though…
can they?”
Susan, these three lines sum up so much of our digital consumption addiction:
We don’t want to wait.
We don’t choose to create.
We passively absorb.
How can we add delayed gratification into our practices or is that beyond repair?
Hanks for this fascinating idea. This is frightening. I played around with many of the options, but decided to see what would happen if I let it rewrite a poem I had written some time ago. here is the poem:
I remember the time…
I remember the time
One summer…
A student rode up on his bike as I worked in the yard
He was dishevelled, grimy, jeans shorts and too-small t-shirt,
a grin wreathing his face.
He threw his arms around me in a sweaty hug.
“Hey, Miss Sands! How’s it goin’? You’re not going to believe this—
I’m reading a chapter book!”
And I was. My heart swelled just a little bit.
He had been almost illiterate, a seventh grader
at the alternative school where I taught.
I remember the time
I thought that If we had accomplished this breakthrough,
Anything was possible. This was the reward we all seek.
I told him how proud I was.
We chatted about the book for a moment, then
he looked over his shoulder, hopped on the bike, and,
calling out, “See you later!”, rocketed down the road.
I chuckled and shook my head. Exactly what I was used to from him.
Two middle schoolers ran up, panting
“Did you see him? Which way did he go?
That’s my bike—he stole it!”
I remember the time…
When I realized that there was still some work to do…
Here is the rewrite:
A summary with the soul removed…
Not sure why, but the summary was cut off…
You have to scroll horizontally to read the summary…
Gayle, so true – the soul is removed, as is the impact provided by well-chosen line breaks building to the unexpected end. The summary just left me flat – and sad over what had become of the poem.
Gayle,
One of my favorite students and I chatted about AI last week. He said that he couldn’t imagine it replacing real writing. “Could it write a novel?” he scoffed.
The lack of soul is scary, but I think that, at this point, anyway, the writing is so transparently mechanical that it’s kind of laughable. What the future holds is anyone’s guess, as illustrated by the recent flap over “Sydney,” the new Bing AI tech. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/16/technology/bing-chatbot-transcript.html
Loved, loved your poem! That ending! AIs may be able to word the word “nuance” in an essay about a book when I direct it to, but they sure can’t craft a poem that actually uses it as you did. 🙂
I went to your NY Times link. Chilling…
Gayle, there is no substitute for you. AI isn’t that smart. I don’t know what we will do to navigate this new world of words as you asked, but I want a poem to do more than get a point across. I want it to spark synapses in my brain that have been asleep for a long time. I don’t think our artificial friend can do that.
Gayle, your experiment is the perfect teaching tool. Students have always looked for shortcuts. AI may appear to be just that, but even the most cunning of students will see its limitations in your example here.
Gayle, thank you for participating in this way…removing the soul from one of your poems! Will some think they can add soul into their writing with AI? A scary thought indeed.
Stefani, this fascinates me and scares me all at once. What a burst of energy and enlightenment you bring today to show us new things. I love your prompt and your way of guiding us. I can’t wait to see what you bring in the next two parts. I blogged yesterday about my favorite childhood poem from Childcraft Volume 1 Poems and Rhymes – Overheard on a Salt Marsh by Harold Monro. You can google it or read the original here.
My directions in Chat GPT were: write a poem about nymphs and goblins on a saltmarsh with green glass beads stolen from the moon. Here is what “I” wrote. I think I like “my” last line best, because yes – – five decades later, I’m still reading this, and I’ll read it until I’m 98 if I live that long!
On a saltmarsh, where the mist does rise,
Nymphs dance and play under cloudy skies,
With green glass beads stolen from the moon,
They adorn themselves in a radiant boon.
Their laughter echoes through the night,
As they flit and flutter in their flight,
Their wings like gossamer, delicate and light,
Beneath the moon’s gentle, silver light.
But lurking there are goblins sly,
With glowing eyes and teeth awry,
They cackle and jeer at the nymphs’ delight,
And their mischief causes them much fright.
The nymphs know well to avoid their grasp,
For goblins are cunning and quick to clasp,
But sometimes, in their game of chase,
The goblins catch one in their embrace.
Then it’s up to the others to free their friend,
And the chase begins anew, without end,
Until the goblins tire and flee,
Leaving the nymphs to dance and be free.
So on that saltmarsh, where the moon does shine,
Nymphs and goblins play a game divine,
With green glass beads, a treasure stolen,
A tale that shall forever be spoken.
-written by my AI nymph and goblin friends posing as me, Kim J
Kim— what are we going to do with this new world of words? The last lines are beautifully written. How will we go forward as teachers and writers?
Gayle, I was fascinated and shocked. Most of the AI poems I have read didn’t capture the spirit of the human hand and personality I know. For example, when I read Mary Oliver, I know her style. When I read Billy Collins, I know I’m going to laugh and see hidden things. Most AI merely gets the point across at best, but I’m wondering whether, since I gave such specific instructions, it honed in on more keyword vocabulary like gossamer. I don’t know what we are going to do with this new world of words. I feel like no one needs a writing teacher when we have a generator to do it for us. I guess we are like cashiers back in the day with all these new self checkout stations……this is a Pandora’s Box.
It’s alarmingly wonderful, Kim.Teeth awry-! The AI nymphs and goblin friends are on your side! That very specific input is the key; we get out what we put in. Yet for all this generated poem’s strikingly Kim-ish whimsy…I love your own work infinitely more, where I hear your voice and sense your heartprints.
It appears that somewhere deep in the memory of AI exists that same Childcraft volume 1, the very book that inspired you. I agree with Gayle, “how will we go forward as teachers and writers?”
Kim, thank you “writing” today! I love your note at the end, the AI nymph–I am still smiling about it. I think the concept of citing the AI tools is a key piece missing from current conversation…who do we give credit to and how do we own up to using it, even if only for inspiration?
I’m so thankful that you are hosting us this week! I’m an old dog learning new tricks. I appreciate your bringing this tool to us.
One thing I agree with: AI is here to stay. Yes, teachers will need to learn to navigate this brave new world. On January 9, 2023 I wrote a blog post about my thinking in AI. I participated in a webinar a few weeks later. No doubt many will ooh and aah over these writing interlopers. I won’t be one of those people. I’m not ready to cross that Rubicon.
Glenda,
THIS!
“I’ve concluded AI, and specifically ChatGPT, would have acted as a barrier to my development as a writer. ChatGPT would have cheated me of the critical thinking skills I’ve honed over the years. More importantly, AI would have robbed me of the joy I’ve experienced from learning to write well. ChatGPT would atrophy my creativity and confidence that grows from accomplishing challenging writing tasks. Any praise I’d experience from posting a ChatGPT text as my own would ring hollow and untrue because it would be for something I did not produce.”
Great blog piece. Can’t wait to share it with my English department.
Wendy
Hi Glenda, thank you for sharing this blog piece and an extension of opinions for all of us to consider. I was at a conference this past week where the skill of “prompt engineer” was brought up as the role of humans in the future. So, if one can effectively write a great prompt does that make them a co-writer in the output/production? 🙂
Glenda, I could not agree more with you: “I’m not ready to cross that Rubicon.” either.
Thanks for the great resources, Stef! I am a firm believer in “get on board” with any new innovations and to continue being teachers/leaders in intelligent and ethical applications. Thus my poem for today.
AI Mirror
@TinyWow Paragraph Writer
Input topic: dead dog
Tone of Voice: Grumpy
AI Output begins:
“I don’t have time
for this dead dog nonsense.
It’s just another example
of the world
not living up to my expectations.”
And while this might be (for some)
entertaining or humorous fun
I find it deeply disturbing
that our egocentric
insensitivities
can be so readily identified
and replicated.
As if we don’t do enough of that
on our own from one
generation to the next
now we have technology
that can crank it out
nonstop 24/7.
It’s not AI we need to fear
getting out of control
but the ones who teach it
how to behave
ultimately
how we treat ourselves
as humans.
Your last stanza echoes my fears perfectly. (But the stanza produced by AI wasn’t bad!!🫣)
Denise, I’m with Gayle here. Your last stanza speaks to the true heart of the matter: who watches the watchmen, as it were? And I wonder if they have the help of some poets (along with the various scientists and engineers) when these “robots” are “created.” (And I also thought the AI stanza wasn’t too bad — a bit snarky, perhaps, but also a bit Philip Larkin, too.) Thanks for writing and sharing this!
Denise,
Loved this so much.
Wendy
Denise, I agree with Gayle about the last stanza. Even AI has its moments of genius, “It’s not AI we need to fear getting out of control but the ones who teach it how to behave.”
Denise, thank you for this post. I think our curiosities and inputs seem to increase the potential of the various systems. The ethical conversation is so important, how do we add this into our K-16 classrooms beyond traditional/current digital citizenship facilitation?
Such a powerful discussion in this poem, Denise.
It is disturbing
How poignant…”how we treat ourselves / as humans”
Hi Stef….how fun and a bit scary. My poem is not quite right and not quite wrong. I played with poem generator.
he Round And Heads-up PennyA Poem by Bree BrushstrokeWhose penny is that? I think I know.
Its owner is quite happy though.
Full of joy like a vivid rainbow,
I watch her laugh. I cry hello.
She gives her penny a shake,
And laughs until her belly aches.
The only other sound’s the break,
Of distant waves and birds awake.
The penny is round, heads-up and deep,
But she has promises to keep,
After cake and lots of sleep.
Sweet dreams come to her cheap.
She rises from her gentle bed,
With thoughts of kittens in her head,
She eats her jam with lots of bread.
Ready for the day ahead.
With thanks to the poet, Robert Frost, for the underlying structure.
Linda,
Yikes. I had a similar experience with my poem.
Wendy
Linda, love how you describe my poem as “not quite right and not quite wrong.” I tried this same form with “grandchild” and when these lines appeared, “She gives her grandchild a shake/And laughs until her belly aches,” I decided to try something different altogether!
Linda, I agree – not quite right and not quite wrong. Above all, not quite Linda. We know you to use magnificent vocabulary with layered meaning like one of those fantastic thin layered caramel cakes with the frosting in so many sections of the bite. This doesn’t come close to you, friend.
Linda, thank you for playing along. I like the line generated around “Sweet dreams come to her cheap.” Could we be inspired by bits of the AI’s response to create? And what are they taking from others’ work that isn’t being cited…indeed fun and scary!
Well, this opens many fascinating (and disturbing?) doors…I was just having a conversation with a veteran educator about poem generators and whether people would use them in an attempt to win contests, etc. instead of relying on their own creativity. I agree with this observation of AI: “We might as well learn alongside and make sure our humanity isn’t disposed of too quickly”…so, as a test of our creative humanity vs. AI, I used a poem generator to write a villanelle. Confession: I did alter a couple of rhymes to make it better but I don’t think AI will out-poet the human. My topic was sleep (I am coveting it, in the throes of getting over a lengthy cold) and as I had to to choose two characters, who better than Somnus and his son Morpheus, gods of sleep? Thank you for this unique challenge, Stef!
Somnus’s Torment: The Villanelle of the Sleep
Somnus couldn’t stop thinking about the sleep
It was just so elusive and desired
But he could never forget the sheep
That morning, Somnus was shocked by the upkeep
He found himself feeling rather wired
Somnus couldn’t stop thinking about the sleep
Later, he realized that the sleep was deep
He thought the situation had become rather uninspired
But he could never forget the sheep
Morpheus tried to distract him with a leap.
Said his mind had become too inspired
Somnus couldn’t stop thinking about the sleep
Somnus took action like a veep
The sleep was becoming too hired
But he could never forget the sheep
Somnus’s demise was cheap
Somnus’s demise was cheap
His mind became dangerously tired
Somnus couldn’t stop thinking about the sleep
But he could never forget the sheep
-sorry for the reptition of the ‘cheap’ line – it posted by accident but it’s all there..and give me Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night any day…
Yep!!!!
Yes, Fran, I agree. You can’t outpoet the human. That’s well-put. And interestingly, from this angle, it feels “different” giving any comments in response to a computer-generated poem. I like your idea of using the blend of “upgrading” the AI poem and making it better. Some of my favorite red wines are blends.
It could provide a good lesson in revision…however, I lean on Stef’s invitation to use, learn, negate AI…
Fran, I have to chuckle at the line, “Somnus took action like a veep.”
It was originally “Somnus took action like a seep” and “Morpheus tried to distract him with a veep” – I did a tiny bit of revision but honestly, there wasn’t a lot of hope for it…
Fran, I love your note that you “don’t think AI will out-poet the human”–I’m wondering how we identify and co-write with these tools to make it a clearer separation. You said you altered two rhymes, when and where do we give credit? Just some thoughts and the reason I was inspired to write this prompt for today. I hope you get some sleep!
Thanks for the explorations, Stef. I’ve played around with many of these tools over the last few months and am both impressed and nervous, mostly for the things we don’t yet know about in regards to AI. Instead of using the site, I wrote a poem about that sense of bewilderment of writers in this emerging world. – Kevin
Let me sit a moment
in this silence,
reduced to the hum
of a machine, at rest
It’s bewildering, at best,
this database, the way
predictive text paints
a poem with someone else’s
words
or maybe inked of our own,
you never know –
some scraps of writing
past might now be
nestled inside the box,
boomeranged back
with a prompt
But I won’t even
recognize myself,
reduced to numbers
and noise;
What’s long gone
gets gobbled up,
and the future,
still a pencil mark away
A cautionary tale in verse, Kevin – these lines, the most telling and haunting: “But I won’t even recognize myself, reduced to numbers and noise”. So true.
Kevin,
Brilliant poem capturing the dystopian AI world. Indeed this: “predictive text paints
a poem with someone else’s
words…” And “I won’t even recognize myself…” Pretty much says it all.
Kevin,
Beautiful sentiments that a machine could not replicate. At least not yet. Here’s hoping that the future is still a pencil mark away.
Amen and amen. I fear the outsourcing of human creativity and true intelligence, the way words play and nuances are subtly, inextricably, layered into poems rich with meaning from a variety of angles like a bride’s braided updo. At the same time, it’s fascinating horror you can’t help watching I like your approach.
Kevin, I can only wonder what we might have heard before machines existed. Or what we may have seen without an IPhone’s lens. I don’t want to comply with giving up my voice as well.
Kevin, I too am “both impressed and nervous” about the potential of AI. I see how sneaky it is in your poem in the lines, “or maybe inked of our own, you never know.” AI has never “inked” anything. Sneaky, sneaky, sneaky.
Kevin, thank you for sharing your poem and connecting us with what is getting gobbled up with technology. I appreciate your use of words (e.g., inked, pencil) that pull us away from digital creation.