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 Elaine Kahn. ______________________________________________________________________________
8
The comic arises when what’s alive acts mechanical.
What the heck are you talking about?
Jack-in-the-box’s opposite.
Homemade hamburgers are the best burgers.
How else commend these small pieces of yourself?
I would tell you, but not on the Internet.
Ah, the fabric of loss that laces the possible.
I will keep count.
Does that mean we’ll get more numb?
I like it when you do that.
One hand suddenly the inconclusive and creepy wave of losing.
Not when that person is me.
Isme is a girl’s name meaning knowledgeable.
Um, I would like to serve God in whatever way he wants me to.
And if he asks you to lie?
I am what I pretend to be. We all are.
Elaine Kahn is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and California College of the Arts. She is the author of two chapbooks:Customer (Ecstatic Peace! Library) and Radiant Bottle Caps (Glasseye). Recent work has appeared in Jubilat, Boog City, La Petite Zine, and Sea Ranch. She performs music under the name Horsebladder and co-edits the small poetry press Flowers & Cream. For slightly more information please visit scrappaperplates.weebly.com
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).