Issue Two
Maria Sledmere
CipherMyst
Paul Stephenson
Mike Ferguson
Cameron Wilson
Rosana Ardila & Gustavo Gómez-Mejía
Nicky Melville
Mark Russell
Fintan Dineen
Jeremy Wikeley
Maria Sledmere
CipherMyst
Paul Stephenson
Mike Ferguson
Cameron Wilson
Rosana Ardila & Gustavo Gómez-Mejía
Nicky Melville
Mark Russell
Fintan Dineen
Jeremy Wikeley
hold plank on event horizon
near you
squat planetary
the unobtainable darkletting
estimate of five solar masses
until perfect lunar cardio
condenses in calm ultimatum
curling a time crystal
ten million millionths
of lust bursting nothingness
so much depersonalises
in a vacuum
at 99.99% deep breathing
techniques of anti-time
swimming through nebulas
of light years
using only your arms
to pull us from wormholes
as if to sync cellular lesions
in free running
god-tier recovery
or bench press the sun
for a sultry, unforgettable
moment, warmed
by nano-impulse, as to
“successfully create
and destroy a new universe
without breaking a sweat”
except replenishing
the quantum parkour
never hurt anyone
named Quasar
ChatGPT-3 was asked to ‘Create a visionary workout plan that is literally impossible to achieve’. The poet took imagistic cue from the results, gleaning collocations and adding one direct quotation to the poem.
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/ \
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\ ^ /
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This ASCII art represents a cheerful face, with wide eyes like a sunny day that brightens your mood. What do you think of it? 😊
Microsoft’s Copilot was asked to generate an image in the style of ASCII art, and then to interpret the image it had produced. Its interpretation has been abridged by the poet.
very handsome and very beautiful and very sexy and I think you should be proud of you all that way you can always go to bed by yourself later and love your life and love your happiness and love your family and friends with benefits and love your love of love and love your life so much more than anything else ever since you were in the bath tub and you were still not working hard on yourself but you like your best friend and I have never been so lucky to be here with you and your life is not very stressful but you need me to help you out with yourself and your love and life and you can always go walk away again soon and I will be happy to be honest with you and your family and friends with benefits and your thoughts on the river and how you feel about your future as well as a wonderful person you deserve aa
Written using Whatsapp predictive text.
ChatGPT was given one of the poet's original poems and asked to produce an erasure. It was then instructed to reproduce the resulting erasure poem as an image.
Bulng is a shnurr velg shoog.
Bulng from Girsk
Is peeg for irzizh.
yoki bulng, wirruy, Onggoeng
Is this bilngir a bilngir of bulng?
The bulng they shuavk
Was shuyng by ngovk.
The Bulng Oshrenggsh are kyu shnerr oshrenggsh,
Rokkri Bulng Oshrengg and Pliek Bulng Oshrengg,
on an ongkiluiengob benger luaki.
Any of shiziler
engshibksh that duli in neozhi is a bulng dulil.
ChatGPT-4o was asked to create a new constrained writing experiment based on the Oulipo group's techniques. The AI came up with ‘Phonetic Shifting,’ which the poet then applied manually to the poem 'Corn' by Bernadette Mayer.
1. Root-extracting people carve whispers from stone.
2. 源 (yuán)—a river births itself in silent origin.
3. Reflecting, solidifying; language freezes and flows.
4. Todos los caminos llevan a Heráclito—flux eternal.
5. 言 (yán), a mouth opens: speech spills forth.
6. 語 (yǔ) evolves, sheds skins of pictographs.
7. ʿilm al-aṣl—science of roots, deep intertwining.
8. Language, a living organism, roots interlocked.
9. Orðsifjafræði: Icelandic trees with ancient branches.
10. Isolation permits the poem; solitude births verses.
11. If Quechua whispered etymology into the wind.
12. If Mayan glyphs mapped roots beneath soil.
13. If Guaraní wove words into origin tales.
14. If Nahuatl painted etymons on sky canvas.
15. Vyutpattiśāstra—the science of derivation unfolds.
16. Archaeology of words unearths buried meanings.
17. Music of meaning resonates in silent chords.
18. Vessels of memory forever adrift.
19. Babel™ water, bottled - yet its flow, unstopped.
20. Meaning hides in voids between spoken sounds.
21. At journey's end through natural metaphors,
22. And artificial theorems, we forge neologisms:
23. ROOTCRAFT and LEXOQUEST, twin blades of thought.
24. Etymology of etymology spirals inward, self-consuming.
25. Deconstruction of language leaves letters scattered.
26. Behind the wheel, we steer through tongues.
27. Scavengers in baskets of other cultures.
28. Pictographic origins: 源 (yuán), stream becoming source.
29. Is language a river? Does it flood?
30. La etimología es flow; roots become rivers.
31. The river enters the open mouth speaking.
32. Wisdom of words: ʿilm al-aṣl whispers.
33. Deep interconnected roots nourish the knowing.
34. Words mean "knowledgeable", roots are principles.
35. The science of origin studies our beginnings.
36. Islandeses trace word families, ancestral echoes.
37. We dissect machines of information units.
38. Palimpsests reveal forgotten meanings beneath layers.
39. Roots connect through time toward elusive truth.
40. Let W be a word; R its root.
41. Over time T, meaning M evolves, f(T).
42. Words shift, transformed by formless wu—emptiness.
43. No word remains the same; change is law.
44. At journey's end, ROOTCRAFT and LEXOQUEST emerge.
45. In worlds where words live, scattered afar,
46. Players quest to restore the lost Lexicon.
47. Lexonauts traverse Forests of Proto-Indo murmurs.
48. Deserts of Dialectica, Ruins of Phonemia await.
49. Morpheme Monks guide through the Abyss of Phoneme.
50. Probing linguistic insights, we are CHAT GPT.
ChatGPT-4o. was used to prompt-jump through notions of “etymology”. The authors selected the most poetic material and ChatGPT o1 crafted a draft of the poem. The prompt is the poem.
UK debt hits 100% of GDP, the highest level since 1960s
so let’s chat GDP the fucked-up world of GDP
now AK47A ‘Grotesque Demon Plague’ [or 1]
In the dystopian nightmare that is i.e. our world
Grotesque Demon Plague is monstrous
f[a/o]rce that measures a count
ry's economic decay
Seriously It’s the sum of all goods
& services churned out the asses of by and for
the wretched masses over a disgusting period of time
Consumption:2 Picture ho[a]rdes
of zombie cuntsumers mindlessly buying shit
they don't need useless trinkets over
priced luxuries feeding the beast
the hand that beats every transaction
pounds an
other fucking nail in the shit-soaked coffin of sanity
Investment: our dark financial over
lords of finance pour money into
Om!inous projects soulless sky
scraper hard-ons
soul-sucking techno
fash empires every investment
a virtual-ritual-viral sacrifice to the alshitey dollar
Government Spending: the fucking all fucking cor
rupt government[s] throw[s] your hard
earned cash into bottom
less pits more fun
ding wars surveill lance states night
mares every dollar spent
fortifies the cage around your freed
Om!
Net Exports: the sick-shit trade balance
where nations ex
change talk sick-shit goods
and soiled commode ditties
exports ± imports
one nation’s gain
is another’s fucking doom
GDP doesn’t give two fucks a
bout the suffering in
equality or environ
mental diva station
it leaves in its wake [up!]
it’s a cold culcating fig
your reflects nothing
but the hollow growth of
a decaying society
_______________________________________
1 - God Damn Poetry / Grotesque Demon Plague / Great Dragon's Plunder / Galactic Doom Protocol / Gruesome Dystopian Paradigm / Gargantuan Debt Pit / Ghastly Dollar Pile / Greedy Demon's Purse / Grim Despair Predictor / Giant Disaster Portfolio / Gluttonous Despot's Prize / Global Destruction Plan / Graveyard of Dreams and Promises / Gory Death Profits / Gloomy Decay Parameter / Grimdark Prosperity Deception / Gratingly Dysfunctional Policy / Ghostly Deficit Projection / Grotesque Demon Pandemic
2 - The polysemic relationship here with the wheezing and expectorating tuberculosis-death-grip(e) is no coincidence.
ChatGPT was asked to define GDP in various ways, with emphasis on demystifying the nebulous term that’s heard on the news, and was then asked to add swearing to its answers. More swear words, coupled with bespoke semantic disruptions, were added by the poet.
We tell you we’re so tired of men
Your men who pretend to be men
Your men made of lines and colour
Who care about men and boldness
The men you bring to every party
Who drink and lounge and fail to dance
Talk about their manly habits
Offer to make us man-sized playlists
So tired, we tell you, they’re not men
They’re men who pretend to be men
Look at the ears of your guitar men
Your men have ears made of silence
Tired, we say, into the ears of silence
So tired of your men, their sleeplessness
The men you made of teddy bears and stuffing
Written in response to an image generated with AbsoluteReality 1.8. This poem was previously part of ‘Random Records’ , and installation commissioned by Off-Page Vispo for their 2024 exhibition in Many Studios, Glasgow.
What is my location?
What is my download speed?
What is my Japanese name?
What is my mum's cousin to me?
What is galaxy gas?
What is brat summer?
What is wrong with Moira in Emmerdale?
What is my angel number?
When will Kali Yuga end?
When will Jesus come back?
When will Deadpool 3 be on Disney?
When will vapes be banned?
What will happen to Earth in 4000?
What will happen if you swallow gum?
What will happen after bitcoin halving?
What will happen to Celine Dion?
Why are seagulls protected?
Why are there fireworks tonight?
Why are Quavers called Quavers?
Why are moths attracted to light?
Why is the sky blue?
Why is my poo green?
Why is customer service important?
Why does my dog stare at me?
Am I gay quiz?
Am I pregnant quiz?
Am I autistic quiz?
Am I having a heart attack quiz?
Why do I eat my scabs?
Why do I keep farting?
Why do I feel like nothing is real?
Why do I hate everything?
Is it true that dolphins are evil?
Is it true the UK is going to war?
Is it true the anus is the first thing to develop?
Is it true that hair holds memories?
How long does it take to fall in love?
How long does it take to boil an egg?
How long does it take to open your third eye?
How long does it take to climb Mount Everest?
I feel like I’m losing my mind?
I feel like I’m wasting my life?
I feel like I’m competing with my boyfriends mum?
I feel like I’m going to pee when I come?
Why do people bite medals?
Why do people snore?
Why do people hate nickelback?
Why does it never snow anymore?
Will it snow today?
Will it snow tomorrow?
When will all the planets align?
When will it happen tarot?
Where am I right now on a map?
Where am I right now?
Where am I right now, satellite?
Tell me, where am I?
This poem is assembled from Google search predictions, and is often refreshed with up-to-date search suggestions. The lines used for this version of the poem were gathered in September 2024.
Caesar Traianus Hadrianus c. 138
Sweet soul travelling
Host and companion of the body
You’ll end up in that place
Pale, still, and naked
Not joking as you usually do
The original poem is attributed to Hadrian, the Roman Emperor. This poem was made by running each line of the Latin text, one line at a time, through Google Translate.
Maria Sledmere is a poet based in Glasgow. Her most recent book, Midsummer Song (Hypercritique) (NoUP, 2024) is a spiralling work of
scholarship towards impossibility and the anthropocene.
CipherMyst is the alias of a poet wishing to remain anonymous.
Paul Stephenson’s debut collection Hard Drive was published by Carcanet in 2023. It was shortlisted for the Lambda Literary Award and is shortlisted for the Polari Book Prize. He co-edited the ‘Europe’ issue of Magma and helps programme the Poetry in Aldeburgh festival. He lives between Brussels and Cambridge. [website] [Instagram] @ [X]
Mike Ferguson is an American permanently resident in the UK. His latest poetry publication is the concrete poetry collection concrete in the parallelogram (Gazebo Gravy Press, 2023), and the erasure-sourced collection the aran aphorisms is forthcoming (Red Ceilings Press, 2024).
Cameron Wilson is a Glaswegian poet and librarian writing in English, Scots and Scottish Gaelic. His sold-out poetry pamphlet I Wish Scotland Was Real was published in 2023 by Electric Frog Press, which was followed up by the mini collection Mull Poems. Cameron's writing has also appeared in Gutter, Poetry Scotland, and Good Press's The Paper, among various other publications. His upcoming procedural writing piece Deathmatch will be published in Winter 2024.
Rosana Ardila is an AI product manager from Colombia who lives in Paris. Originally a sociologist trained in Berlin, she has worked with open source communities and AI technologies for years. Her professional and creative interests include critical engagement and ethical concerns in digital experiences.
Gustavo Gómez-Mejía is a media studies scholar and a creative research practitioner. His interests include digital cultures and semiology – topics to which he has devoted a series of academic articles. He was born in Colombia and he currently lives and works in France as an Associate Professor at the Prim research unit of the University of Tours.
Nicky Melville's selected poems Decade of Cu ts (Blue Diode) came out in 2021 and his most recent being publication is sounding … out (essence press, 2024). Melville is a Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Glasgow and a Teaching Fellow in Creative Writing at the University of Edinburgh, where he lives with his partner and whippet, Beckett.
Mark Russell's most recent collections are Come to the River (Downingfield Press) and Men Who Repeat Themselves (erbacce). His poems have appeared in Poetry Wales, Stand, Magma, Shearsman, and The Manchester Review.
Fintan Dineen is a playwright and poet from South London. Previous poetry work featured in Tentacular and SPAM Zine. Plays produced at Lyric Hammersmith, Ink Festival and shortlisted for BBC Writersroom 2021 & 2022. Recipient of Alpine Fellowship Theatre Prize 2023. He hosts the monthly ‘Words at the Woodfield’ poetry night at the Woodfield Pavillion.
Jeremy Wikeley is a writer and poet who lives and works in London. [website]
This issue was edited by Dan Power, and published on 1 October, 2024.