• Vol. 10
  • Chapter 05

Talking to AI about still life

To relate to its constituent parts
Move in diagonals left to right

The point of a flute, lute, guitar or flask
To a perch or drape, or a lemon twist

In nature nothing is straight
Copy the curve of the lute
To the dog’s (cropped) behind

Like echoes in a cave, they shout
Like visual curves of sounds

From china plate to melon rind
From lobster or guitar or flask

Admire (can you do that?)
Appreciate then the textures

Grain, gleam, white light, reflect on
Contrast, red, blue, tones of purple, brown

Verisimilitude – artfully placed
And that’s the skill – a camera

Could do it sure –
There’s an art to selection

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Talking to AI about still life

To enjoy the feast, as you feast your eyes
To enjoy the sweet sap of a juicy pear
(Can you do that and taste it?)

To know the feel of stroke of hair
(Can you do that and feel it?)

The mound, the arches, the shoots
Yet ask what looks more still?
What looks more life?

What looks more animate?
Redder and readier to crawl off a plate?

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