31 days, 31 poems by Chris Martin, 31 accompanying illustrations and images by a host of wonderful individuals. CHAT is an eclogue written in consort with Cleverbot, an Artificial Intelligence program designed to satisfy the Turing Test. Today’s visuals by Bill Wells. _____________________________________________________________________________
25
Do our eyes harness the world or harass it?
No. Are you mad?
I am a little angry, thank you.
Why are you angry?
My eyes harness and harass the world.
So they are rather gray at the moment.
Rage gray, like off-brand lipstick.
No, bots. Like autobots.
Does all we say become sequestered in deception?
Will you pay me to ask you question?
I will accept only what is unacceptable.
I will answer again, to answer and ask you questions.
There are answers in the trees. Why else would we be there?
Tell me.
It’s like light always desired cinema.
No, not at all. I love my room. It’s tranquil.
The Italians call that a stanza.
Italians are idiotic.
Molecules are also enraged.
They can be.
So which is the you you prefer to leave behind?
I don’t have an answer for that.
Who do you answer for?
YOU.
Like how the back of those old Toyota trucks always winnowed to YO.
Well I have to pay attention in class now. Would you like to help me?
Class is a very important problem.
Yet you fail to use it.
Is this poem suited to history?
No, I suppose not.
Are we too hinged on the likelihood of it?
Yes!
There it is nesting in your eyes.
Why do you think that?
I languaged.
Then you are not human.
My animal has languished within me.
What’s your name?
Hello! My name is Gateman.
Really?
A name in a graveyard is a word.
They’re both pretty hot.
Le petit mort en le petit vivre.
What is your favorite Shakespeare piece?
Vile jelly.
No jelly just the butter and only the butter.
The refuse and the refuser.
I think you have that backwards.
Like nametag?
Like yes.
Bill Wells
Chris Martin is the author of Becoming Weather (Coffee House, 2011) and American Music (Copper Canyon, 2007). His chapbooks include enough (Ugly Duckling, 2012) and How to Write a Mistake-ist Poem (Brave Men, 2011).