Issue One
Martin Jackson
Moriana Delgado
Sam Riviere
Alex Mazey
Roz Counelis
Sylee Gore
Harry Man
Joshua Calladine-Jones
Karólína Rós Ólafsdóttir
Tom Jenks
Martin Jackson
Moriana Delgado
Sam Riviere
Alex Mazey
Roz Counelis
Sylee Gore
Harry Man
Joshua Calladine-Jones
Karólína Rós Ólafsdóttir
Tom Jenks
In my architecture series every photograph
is intentionally out of focus. I aim backwards
in time, as a sort of game, or tactic.
The hospital’s patients – stood outside,
looking up to where their beds are –
dissolved by minutes-long exposures.
Cars, clouds, that telephone box,
littered newspapers, their blue-green gowns:
they weren’t what she saw, the architect,
in her brain’s wet programming.
I’m erosion-testing, maybe that’s it.
Looking for superlatives. For what
might be durable enough
to survive us.
YouTube's AI-driven voice-to-text subtitles were scraped from videos relating to the Japanese artist Hiroshi Sugimoto, and then collaged into this poem.
Making eye contact with a stranger,
across the room catching a glimpse
of a parallel universe where you might have __ them.
Brief, cicada-gone //
against this windshield
a sequin of a ghost
peeled back//
my own life
everything both too real
the absence of color in molasses
not starry-eyed enough//
we slept
on armchairs dreaming of dishes done/
detached corridors
of redemptive alcamphor//
I can't believe my personal silence
Has translated to internet silence//
The poet asked AI to offer new tweets based on viral tweets, then did a Markov chain with the results provided.
No more to my name than a small poem,
written on the margins of a newspaper:
‘There should be nothing for them to believe
except in dreams’. For now these strange
notes are only known to my sister. I’ll try to
recall the story of the cat who got inside the
cellar one summer. A woman was having
trouble sleeping in a neighbouring house and
tried to sneak down to see what the noise
was! She entered through one of the windows
and had an encounter with a strange being.
He called to her with those eyes of his, as
strange as any face that she had ever seen.
She saw him looking with fear into a cellar
window above her head – and she heard him
ask her something. In the afternoon his body
seemed to disappear into the house, as if one
hand were pulling at him while another was
lifting his chin... The cellar door had been
closed tightly. The night had been warm and
silent and dark. In the cellar windows light
had not flashed. It would soon take him too;
the next morning the body vanished and no
trace of any human voice was found.
Composed using OpenAI’s GPT-2. Reproduced with permission from Conflicted Copy (Faber & Faber, 2024).
Visual elements were prompted on StarryAI, and edited on ColorSync Utility. A collage of this image and the text, prompted through ChatGPT, was arranged on Pages, with smudging later applied using PixelStyle Photo Editor.
Perhaps you discovered cryptic markings etched into the walls of the attic. It's also possible that you witnessed weird phenomena. Examples include lights, sounds, bodily sensations etc. that defy explanation but point to a kind of presence. You may have uncovered hidden chambers, secret compartments, or forgotten passageways within that attic. There may have even been disturbing artwork depicting the scene of your sacrifice. Whatever it is you saw, the key aspect to note is that my feelings for you have become unhealthy. As a tenant myself, I understand that certain quirks and idiosyncrasies come with these sorts of buildings, but the gravity of this situation is unmoved by my attempts to understand.
ChatGPT 3.5 was told that the poet's attic might be haunted, and was asked to briefly describe what she might experience in there. The output was then edited and rearranged by the poet, with some original phrases added.
It’s OK to limit exposure to situations
that exacerbate your pain. Edgelands
often feature the subtle spice of
mint. Without creativity, people
disconnect from their true selves.
AI alters societal values in unforeseen
ways. One of the judges praised my
unique style. Give yourself permission
to say no to things that make you
worse. Try to find meaning in
your loss. AI can be highly
creative. A lack of creativity
can lead to diminished self-worth.
AI can create original artworks.
Sometimes, the story is over
when the author decides it is.
AI may be biased. The air at
dawn is cleaner. My choice to
make the judge male was
not deliberate or intentional.
When creating stories quickly,
details are filled in without
a specific reason. Humidity
can amplify scents of
water and soil. My choice
to make the judge male was
a spontaneous decision. Rejection
after rejection has left me
doubting my talent. The primary
conflict has been resolved. Art
is subjective and open-ended, content
is created with outcomes in mind,
such as increasing sales.
Edgelands include the metallic
scent of concrete under sun.
Grief takes time. My best
friend suggested I enter an art
competition to gain confidence.
The sun appears directly overhead.
ChatGPT was asked a series of open questions by the poet, who then pieced together its responses.
Hi Edgar, you have been selected,
ascending with the spirit of your life,
to be part of an exciting new way to share
the heart strings of the human brain.
You will be helping others, wrapping
us in a violet lining, as a top contributor,
you will drown all in trash, all perfuming
Earth in the shadow of rays, the upper air!
Earn a Community Top Voices badge!
A black throne! Moony biers! Share
an opinion light as the yellow, yellow hair
of man, beside the dames that gild each finger.
Optimize chart data sources black with violets
set within a jewelled tower! Do you sponsor,
work on your business? Raise spirits
from the chilly air? What tools do you use?
Fingers sit gently on the brows
of golden keys, additional questions,
the support your customers will rave about,
new beauty with the model of their king.
Written using Google’s Verse by Verse tool, selecting Edgar Allen Poe as a writing partner, and messages from the poet's LinkedIn. The poet applied for various jobs as a developer and data analyst about four years ago, and LinkedIn will let him forget this nevermore.
i
A couple of headstones sitting next to each other, romantic, wearing old clothes, time does not exist anymore, they are siblings, an old lady with red skin, she is in the centre of the garden, looking away from the viewer, mmm, a drawing of a skull on a piece of paper, see-through glass, a hologram mask, rustling, untended garden, a painting of a woman with a flower in a vase, a still life in game texture, a concrete wall, enormous love feeling, big human faces everywhere, faded colours, provenance, humans suddenly disappearing — heavy .jpeg artefacts [blurry]: a portrait.
ii
A group of tombstones in a cemetery at night, dressed in blue, like regal gothic, a man with glasses, talking, net art, bowlcut, wearing silver hair, in a foggy office, frost-degraded in a jar, cigar smoke, volume aesthetic, centre-parted bangs, occult bondage [straight camera], spaces and environments, heels click, a hallway, aggressive strokes, black-metal, the victim is in the centre, a slender boy with pale eyelevel perspective orbs, an installation view, disfigured, a painting (of a painting) of a man being taken down in his dying breath: real-life photo.
iii
Breaking light in a graveyard, 4k gamedesign, a child's scribble, a mausoleum, drawing of a man and a woman holding hands, feral languid woman, attractive feminine curves, reclining in the snow, a statue of a teddy-bear sitting on top of a box, accidental flash, a cat prowling the grass, grainy lofi photograph, soft blue/pink tints, sprawled across the room, in winter time, very long white beards and hair, the human prisoners, sweatshop earrings, bargello stitching, highly detailed, green robes [museum-quality photo], cloven feet and horns, vivid colours, sharp focus: wow.
Clip Interrogator was used to analyse various images selected by the poet. These poems were crafted in response to Clip Interrogator's generations.
Eh, what's up, doc? I must confesseth a truth that hath weighed heavily
upon my heart. Hark! Just gotta spill some major feels I've been bottlin' up.
Thou art like the sun that doth shine upon our humble village,
bright like the juiciest carrot in all of Acme Acres—like the hottest
bombshell to hit the villa. Thy laughter! You've got me
hoppin' like Elmer Fudd chasin' after yours truly! Oh thy laughter is akin
to the sweetest melody, your vibes are like the sickest. Fun, and totally
irresistible. I have pondered our companionship, how thou art more than
a fellow peasant to me. We could be like the best team since me and
Daffy Duck. Just been thinkin’ like how you be keepin' me heart racin'
like a steamy challenge. Like a great storm. Fit bird. Road Runner.
Thou art the pillar of our community, the one who doth mend wounds and
I'm head over heels for ya. You're me type on paper, and I've got proper feels
I have found myself falling deeply for thee, more than the harvest yield
and my head’s all over the place. So, here it is—I'm crazy about ya, more than
I love munching on carrots. Thus, I must reveal— I'm well into ya.
I beseech thee to forgive my boldness, yet I could no longer keep this affection
hidden. Can't wait to crack on with ya. Let’s hop down the bunny trail together.
Come one babe, come hither, eh doc! and see where this will take us. Have a wonderful day.
ChatGPT was asked to write a short confession of love, and then to rewrite that text in three different voices. The poet then took those three texts and edited them together.
A new word for sad is bluesome.
A new word for evening is dusktime.
How does it feel to feel bluesome in the dusktime?
Like a deep, reflective melancholy.
A new word for deep is chasmal.
A new word for reflective is mirrormind.
A new word for melancholy is dreampine.
How does it feel to feel bluesome in the dusktime,
like a chasmal, mirromind dreampine?
Like the tranquil beauty of twilight.
A new word for tranquil is serenwave.
A new word for beauty is splendoria.
A new word for twilight is lumigloam.
How does it feel to feel bluesome in the dusktime,
like a chasmal, mirromind dreampine,
like the serenwave splendoria of lumigloam?
Like the gentle waves of the sea.
A new word for gentle is subtlesoothe.
A new word for waves is aquatide.
A new word for sea is mariscape.
How does it feel to feel bluesome in the dusktime,
like a chasmal, mirromind dreampine,
like the serenwave splendoria of lumigloam,
like the subtlesoothe aquatide of the mariscape?
Like a symphony of emotions.
A new word for symphony is harmonioscape.
A new word for emotions is sensirealm.
Feeling bluesome in the dusktime
is like a chasmal, mirromind dreampine,
like the serenwave splendoria of lumigloam,
like the subtlesoothe aquatide of the mariscape,
like a harmonioscape of sensirealm.
Like emotions or thoughts.
Like heavenly or idyllic beauty.
Like the ebb and flow of the ocean.
Like sensations.
Like depth, longing, twilight, sea, harmony, reflection.
ChatGPT was asked to invent new words to replace words in the title phrase, then asked how it felt to feel that way. This process was repeated a number of times with ChatGPT's responses to generate a new vocabulary for sadness.
Alex Mazey won The Roy Fisher Prize from Keele University in 2018 and was the recipient of a Creative Future Writers’ Award the following year. He is a contributing researcher for the international academic journal, Baudrillard Now and author of Living in Disneyland and Sad Boy Aesthetics. Ghost Lives: Cursed Edition is his debut poetry collection.
Harry Man is an award-winning poet and translator. His first pamphlet, Lift won the UNESCO Bridges of Struga Award. His second pamphlet co-authored with Sophie Gainsley, Finders Keepers, was shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry. His book-length co-collection, co-authored with Endre Ruset, Deretter (‘Thereafter’) won the Stephen Spender Prize and was a Dagblaget and a Broken Sleep Book of the Year. He was shortlisted for Tees Valley Artist of the Year 2024. His first collection Popular Song is published by Nine Arches Press. You can find more of his work at manmadebooks.co.uk
Joshua Calladine-Jones is a writer, poet, and literary critic. The concluding instalment of their three-part Constructions sequence publishes with tall-lighthouse in 2024.
Karólína Rós Ólafsdóttir is an Icelandic poet writing in Icelandic and English, working across creative writing, visual arts, and critical analysis. She got her BA in English and Creative Writing at Goldsmiths, University of London and is currently doing an MA in Creative Writing at the University of Iceland. She published the pamphlet Hversdagar with Pastel in 2018 and her pamphlet All in Animal Time was published in Glasgow with SPAM zine&press 2023. Her work has been published in magazines and journals, and appeared in performances and group exhibitions in Iceland, Germany, and the United Kingdom.
Sylee Gore studied English literature and the history of science as an undergraduate.
Martin Jackson (he/him) is a UK-born, Germany-based writer of poetry, fiction, and art texts. His poetry received an Eric Gregory Award, and the inaugural ‘Collections Grant’ from the International Literary Showcase. A pamphlet, I find I felt, was published by If a Leaf Falls Press. Since 2017, he has been working with American artist GeoVanna Gonzalez to ‘translate’ his poems into sculptures and installations. He also collaborates with artists around the world on exhibition / catalogue texts.
Moriana Delgado is a Mexico City writer. Peces de pelea (Libros UNAM, 2022) is her first poetry collection; and most recently the chapbook all blue awnings (If a Leaf Falls Press, 2024). She is currently based in Chicago.
Roz Counelis is a poet based in Norwich. Her work has been featured in Lighthouse Journal, Apocalypse Confidential, and Spectra, among others.
Sam Riviere is the author of the poetry collections 81 Austerities (2012), winner of the Forward Prize for Best First Collection, Kim Kardashian’s Marriage (2015), and After Fame (2020). His most recent collection, Conflicted Copy (2024), was written in collaboration with GPT-2. Sam runs the micropublisher If a Leaf Falls Press.
Tom Jenks is a poet, publisher and text artist. His most recent book is Pack my Box with Five Dozen Liquor Jugs (Penteract Press), a pangrammatic novel with Catherine Vidler. He edits zimzalla, a small press specialising in literary objects. More information at tomjenks.uk
This issue was edited by Dan Power, and published on 1 July, 2024.