Poetry, Politics, and Artificial Intelligence

This last week I wasted two days writing a draft blog about the first week of President Trump’s presidency. The deluge of his actions, many undoable, has made even me concerned for our country. But when I re-read what I wrote, I didn’t like it, an exercise in political teeth gnashing filled with cliches, at best.

So I tried poetry.

First, why?

Several days ago I read a Nature article showing that artificial intelligence can write poems indistinguishable from those written by famous poets. Readers liked the simplicity of Ai poems more than metaphors that make you think in different directions. I offer, as an example, Robert Frost’s poem about choosing the forest path not taken on a forked road, a metaphor about life. Elon Musk used Frost’s metaphor in his memo to governmental workers titled, “A Fork in the Road.” Do you think he knew where it came from?

You can get the Nature article below:

Nature article on poetry and artificial intelligence

I read a poet’s review of it who thought Ai will lead to the death of poetry. He argued that teachers no longer even teach kids how to read poems, let alone about metaphors and other literary devices to move the mind and heart.

Using Ai to help write poetry did intrigue me. I used ChatGPT to write the poem which I then heavily edited. I kept only a few things that Ai provided, mostly the rhyming sequence. But this experiment shows me that I can use ChatGPT as a personal assistant or researcher at the beginning of new fiction or poetry projects. But after, I will have to heavily edit it to eliminate hackneyed expressions and cliches, both of which I dislike, and put it into my own voice.

Here’s my poem on current political events. I guess the citation would be:

Siegel, D.I., and ChatGPT, Hearts’ Whispers, Substack.com, February 6, 2025.

The Dread

Behind a desk covered in shadows, an angry man resolutely sits.
Within this house, so white, Dread’s pronouncements lunge, strike, and leap.
The opposition to metamorphosis from butterfly to moth moves in starts and fits.
With continual diversion and confusion, meaningful action falls asleep.

Half a nation, so afraid of Dread, treads uncertain
While watching a familiar government fade away.
But hope can still be found from behind any black curtain,
after we pull it apart to show even partly cloudy days.

Oh America, your diverse puppet strings do weave,
A grand tapestry of divergent views; open and closed, bold to meek.
From our history, the good and the bad, I choose to believe
Bad consequences give away to voices re-seeking
The better parts of our human nature, preventing Dread to dwell.
Know that within hearts filled with fear, prudent hope's whispers might better swell.

Don Siegel 2-6-25

Methodology

ChatGPT created the first draft of Hearts’ Whispers after I gave it the following words: “Shakespeare, sonnet, politics, despair, hope.”

I hurt my back again and so won’t be offering music of my own this week. I offer two YouTube videos instead; one by poetry Nobel Laureate Bob Dylan which served as an anthem for social justice. Lee Greenwood wrote and sings the other song played at Republican affairs to express spiritually-driven love of America. I heard it at rodeos in Wyoming.

I like both songs. Make sure you listen to the interview with Greenwood and what he meant in his song, the apparent opposite of many of those using it for events. I hope that those “politically” appreciating only one could find a way to like the other a little, even if the sentiments in it do not perfectly align with theirs. That’s the first step to learning to compromise with each other.