No one knows who painted this watercolour. It was first thought to be a Franco-Spanish artist, but then the piece was recognised as having British provenance. It’s possible even the monogram is a deception. This costumed woman with vegetables remains unnamed and unclaimed, or perhaps she preferred anonymity?
Costumed Woman with Vegetables
Where do you go to
When the rent is due,
Vegetables are few,
You are alone?
You have just your clothes
Your wits. And suppose
It’s not what you chose.
But you have flown.
A hat, and a meal.
You try to conceal
How it is to feel
Adrift. Empty.
A basket of food.
A meal misconstrued.
A road less pursued.
You go gently.
©elsp 2025
I read online about the controversy of a poet who set her poems to music with an AI generator. Then, the country charts were hit by AI. As a writer, I am opposed to AI. There’s no question AI takes away work from creative humans and undermines the integrity of the arts. But it’s here, successfully streamlining business processes, and creeping into our actions online and elsewhere. As an experiment, I put my poem through an AI music generator (repeating one of the stanzas above). I chose genre, mood, and tempo. As a poet who wonders if her work even gets read, I was stunned at hearing my words performed like this. A fun vanity project, yes. Where should the line be drawn? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.
More of my ephrastic poetry here. More on the cyhydedd hir form here.
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