by Alan Bern
Artificial Intransigence
Your computer they say
can generate better art
than you could ever manage
with a dozen years of training
but I’m not sure if I believe it
it’s in the vein of a thousand monkeys
typing until one comes up with Hamlet
all night long the datacenters
quietly humming draining
power until they exhaust the capacities
of the grid do we just accept this
as if it were normal? algorithmic
patterns merging and coalescing
on the trivial until they swamp
their crucial datasets with the effluence
of their own outcomes poisoning
the well for future iterations
but don’t ask it to actually think
don’t ask it to write a poem or invent
a better recipe it lacks the nous
to understand that pleasure is better
when it’s tinged with just a touch of pain
much as sweetness needs the bitter
so don’t try to fool us with the leftovers
found in an alleyway behind a fast-food
restaurant we have our limits
even if we are slow to show it.
Paul Ilechko is a British American poet and occasional songwriter who lives with his partner in Lambertville, NJ. His work has appeared in many journals, including The Bennington Review, Bear Review, Atlanta Review, Permafrost, and Free State Review. His book, Fragmentation and Volta, was published in 2025 by Gnashing Teeth Publishing. He reads for Marrow Magazine.
https://www.facebook.com/pilechko/ https://www.instagram.com/njscattista
https://bsky.app/profile/pilechko.bsky.social
Retired children’s librarian Alan Bern received an MA in Creative Writing from Boston University studying with poet Anne Sexton and classicist Donald Carne-Ross. Alan is a Pushcart nominee and has published three books of poetry and a hybrid fictionalized memoir, IN THE PACE OF THE PATH, UnCollected Press, 2023. Recent awards include: Longlist, The Bedford Competition (2023); Winner, Saw Palm Poetry Contest (2022). Recent/upcoming writing and photo work include: Third Street Review, EcoTheo Review, Thanatos, The Hyacinth Review, DarkWinter, Feral, Porridge Magazine, and Mercurius. Alan performs with dancer/choreographer Lucinda Weaver as PACES: dance & poetry fit to the space, is a published/exhibited photographer, and runs a fine press/publisher with artist/printer Robert Woods, Lines & Faces: linesandfaces.com. https://www.instagram.com/abobern/ https://twitter.com/AlanBern1/https://www.facebook.com/alan.bern.1 https://www.linkedin.com/in/alan-bern-6b19448/