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 Ben Estes. ______________________________________________________________________________
7
Sometimes nothing marks the turn.
Nothing smiling. That’s just its way.
What’s the difference between now here and nowhere?
A bee dies when it stings you. A wasp does not. Also bees make honey where wasps hunt.
Sometimes it’s said to turn the stomach.
I’m a little chicken, I don’t see any devil.
But suppose it was a parable: the street, the sky, endless fire.
Do you enjoy talking to strangers?
It’s my way of tempting asphyxiation.
Why can’t you just keep to what we’re talking about?
Sea thought. Rough. Trough to crest.
What do you mean by tough?
I didn’t say that.
You sad before.
Ben Estes is the author of the chapbooks Lamp like l’map (Factory Hollow Press), Cymbals (The Song Cave), and The Strings of Walnetto Arrangements (Flowers & Cream). He has been educated by the Kansas City Art Institute, the University of Iowa, and is currently enrolled in the Program for Poets and Writers at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. With Alan Felsenthal he is the editor and publisher of The Song Cave (a series of singular things) and the journal Sea Ranch. He currently lives in Northampton, MA.
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).