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Written by: Tracey Kiff-Judson

Category: Blog

Published: 06 June 2024

Poetry Friday is here!

“What is Poetry Friday?” you ask … please visit Renee LaTulippe for her thoughtful explanation. Connect using Mr. Linky at the bottom of this post.

One wonderful aspect of Poetry Friday is that you can write about virtually anything. Yet sometimes, finding inspiration can be a challenge, at least for me.

Image source: Canva

A few weeks ago, I attended the last CT Forum of the season. The topic was “Chefs.” The panelists included: Priya Krishna (NY Times Columnist and Cookbook Author), Marcus Samuelsson (Renowned Chef, Restauranteur, TV Personality), and Gail Simmons (Top Chef Judge, Culinary Expert, Cookbook Author).  Sam Sifton (NY Times Editor and Writer, Cookbook Author) moderated the discussion.

Image source: The Connecticut Forum - The Connecticut Forum (ctforum.org)

To me, the most interesting part of the discussion centered around inspiration. An audience member asked the panelists where they find inspiration for their culinary creativity. Marcus Samuelsson answered that he collects colors and stories. “The clubs, the artistry, and the weirdness” of his Chelsea neighborhood in NY City inspire him. The moment that he finds a food “cravable” (when the first bite is so delicious that he wants to eat more) inspires him to experiment with that flavor profile.

Other panelists talked about the world as inspiration.  Being out in the world, traveling, visiting new places, talking to a stranger at a wedding, and experiencing life were all sources of inspiration for their cooking. The panelists agreed that venturing out of their homes and diving into a new environment invigorated their creativity.

This sentiment rang true to me. Some poets find inspiration in the seemingly ordinary, perhaps Valerie Worth would be a worthy (tee hee) example. That works for me on occasion but venturing out in the world feels necessary. Pairing new experiences with my life-history library sometimes inspires a fresh idea.

I also left the forum thinking that great artwork, whether it be writing, painting, dance, theater, sculpting, music, or cooking, is at its core – storytelling. And storytelling is about human connection and understanding.

And that thought brought a wave of gratitude for the community of storytellers who are Poetry Friday.  Thank you for bravely sharing your stories, your cultures, your observations, and your feelings and reaching out for human connection.

Please connect here!

If you have time to comment, I would love to hear about a source of your inspiration!

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Written by: Tracey Kiff-Judson

Category: Blog

Published: 30 May 2024

Do you ever wake up in the middle of the night with a flash of dream-brilliance and scratch something on a scrap of paper in the dark?
               
                        Image source: Canva

I do this occasionally, but in the cold reality of morning, I usually find … giBberiSh.

Here is one from a long time ago, that sounded oh, so poetic in the middle of the night:

              Thrice before the double dawn,
              the monkey … [indecipherable] gone.

             
                       Image source: Canva

Then there was this:

              Toggle
              Dazzle
              Ice Cream
              Soldier

             
                       Image source: Canva

My scribble from last Tuesday was marginally coherent, yet not the masterpiece imagined in my dream-brain:

              My poor, miser-man,
              you keep all you can –
              bibbles and bobbles
              you put in a can.

Not sure how you put a bobble in a can, and "can" can't rhyme with "can."  Maybe that one could be improved with a little TLC…

              You scrimp, and you cobble,
              devout miser-man,
              each bibble, each bauble – 
              tucked in a can.

             
                      Image source: Canva

Ah well, despite the futility, I continue to jot down pieces of dreams. Because …

Dreams

by Langston Hughes

Hold fast to dreams 
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.

Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
… read the entire poem here.

Wishing you a happy Poetry Friday and sweet dreams!  Please visit Janice at Salt City Verse to read about her impatience for impatiens and a review of Carol Labuzzetta's Picture Perfect Poetry.

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Written by: Tracey Kiff-Judson

Category: Blog

Published: 23 May 2024

                                                                                                           Source: Canva

This week, while fine-tuning a couple manuscripts, I distracted myself by consolidating my various editing checklists into one comprehensive mega-list.

After a few hours of that, I was ready to rip my hair out, and of course, when hair is ripping, a poem is ripening.

Editing

My poem
contains, really and truly, just very, very few crutch words, 
EXPLODES with active verbs!!!!
does not overuse exclamation points
      OR CAPITALIZATION!!!!!!
carefully, meticulously, and precisely minimizes adverbs
maintains a catchy refrain,

uses it’s apostrophes correctly when its time,
let’s you here the creek of the creak,
shows the second hand ticking (rather than telling time),
is hysterical,
is knot full of linking verbs,
is cursedly age appropriate,
does not add filler just to rhyme –
      this, I’ll tell you every time,
throws in a dash of emdash –
or two –
resists reiteration, repetition, and redundancy,
maintains a catchy refrain,

leverages
line
breaks
for
emphasis,
is devoid of typoes,
is POW! SWOOSH! CRACKING with onomatopoeia,
actively alliterates, undulates with assonance, and spills its consonance,
takes a hero on a journey to save the cat,
incorporates some
enjambment,
maintains a catchy refrain,

employs lusciously lyrical language,
sparce,
makes appropriate uses of ellipses, etc. …
has more layers than lasagna,
uses similes like an English teacher,
avoids cliches like the plague,
avoids mixing metaphors by getting its ducks on the same page,
maintains a catchy refrain,

and
has a Twist ending –
Oliver.

© Tracey Kiff-Judson, Draft 2024

For some well-edited poetry, visit this week’s Poetry Friday host, the amazingly artistic Michelle Kogan at MoreArt4All with this week's roundup and May birthday wishes.

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Written by: Tracey Kiff-Judson

Category: Blog

Published: 16 May 2024

There is a little "put-and-take" shed at our local transfer station. It usually contains an array of unwanted items, many in need of repair. I like to wander through and imagine people cleaning out closets, basements, and pantries.  Are they moving to a new home, downsizing, or just a conducting thorough spring cleaning?

Occasionally, I drop off a few things, but I try to avoid bringing home items because I don't want to collect more stuff. Yet … I picked up this plate, and somehow its strangeness convinced me to bring it home.

The rim contains pictures of hinges and drawer handles.  The center has a picture of a cheerful gentleman / pirate / town crier?  His head is open on top, and his hat connects to his neck with a handle, leading me to believe that he is actually a mug.  The pipe that lies in front of the mug is about the right size for the person on the mug to smoke. To whom does this pipe belong? I find the scene confusing. Maybe I am missing something that would have become clear in the context of an entire place setting.

Now that I have washed it and studied it, I will probably return it for the next passerby to ponder.  A silly poem for a silly plate:

Gentleman with an Affable Grin

There once was a man with an affable grin
that stretched from his cheeks all the way to his chin.

We so loved his face that we made it a mug.
We passed him around, and we all took a chug.

We so loved the mug that we gave it a pipe.
The mug didn’t smoke – it wasn’t the type.

We so loved the pair that we made them a plate.
We ate every dinner straight off the man's pate.

It’s been many years since the man came and went.
Now no one recalls ever seeing that gent.

In other news, it was my pleasure read Carol Labuzzetta’s Picture Perfect Poetry: An Anthology of Ekphrastic Nature Poetry for Students. I want to offer a special thank you to Carol for her dedication and perseverance in creating this anthology.  Incredibly, she completed this project over the course of several months!

I was overjoyed to see gorgeous photos and wonderful poems from so many Poetry Friday friends!  I would like to share one of my poems that Carol selected:

Fiery Friend

I know you from
tigers and tangerines,
carrots and parrots,
saffron and sunsets.

You mingle with
goldfish and marigolds,
campfires and cantaloupe,
corals and orioles,

but I did not expect
to find you in forests
dressed down as
commonplace
fungus.

Happy Poetry Friday!  Please visit the kind and wise Patricia Franz for this week's Poetry Friday gathering and to share her adventure planting seedlings with The Sugar Pine Foundation!

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Written by: Tracey Kiff-Judson

Category: Blog

Published: 09 May 2024

Have you ever fallen in love with a word at first sight?  A word that leaps from the page or tickles your ear? 

I must confess. I have a crush on the word “winklepicker.” 

As if the word’s light-hearted clicking in your mouth were not enough, just take a gander at an actual winklepicker:

source: https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/winklepickers-0015435

You can choose an old-school winklepicker:

source: https://gucinari.co.uk/shoes/boots/the-history-of-winklepickers/

To me, the winklepicker’s personality walks a fine line between comedian and villain.

source: https://www.gettyimages.ca/photos/winklepicker-shoes

How could you not be intrigued by a shoe with that imagination, that wit, that je ne sais quoi?

source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Renaud_de_montauban_banquet.jpg, public domain

Beyond its zany frivolity, the winklepicker serves a function as well.  The name came from the notion that the winklepicker’s pointy toe might be used to pick a winkle (or periwinkle, a small mollusk) from its shell.

source: https://www.climatewatch.org.au/species/marine/blue-periwinkle

The highly-stylized curled winklepicker (as might be worn by a jester) nullifies function and embraces pure form.

source: https://www.istockphoto.com/photos/winklepicker

Of course, things can be taken to an extreme.

source: Mexican Pointy Boots - VICE Video: Documentaries, Films, News Videos

I leave you with a brief winklepicking poem …

Winklepicker

I wink. I pick.

I winklepick.

I kick a winkle with my toe.

He twinkles in the foamy flow.

I wink at him – he seems to know.

I’ll pick you, winkle, with my toe.

I winklepick, and I watch him go –

stolen by a stealthy crow.

(c) Tracey Kiff-Judson, 2024

Please visit the delightful Linda Mitchell at A Word Edgewise for some wonderful clunkers and this week's Poetry Friday fiesta!  Want to learn more about Poetry Friday?  Check out Renee LaTulippe's post.

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Written by: Tracey Kiff-Judson

Category: Blog

Published: 02 May 2024

Poetry Friday is sizzling!  It feels like summer is just around the corner with the warm temps here earlier this week.  Please visit our host, the amazingly talented Buffy Silverman to see what’s hot in this week’s Poetry Friday roundup!

This year, we have thousands and thousands of baby maple trees sprouting all over our yard.  I spent a about six hours pulling spring weeds from our small garden this weekend. 

I took a minute to marvel at this sprout's preprogrammed growth plan. It knew exactly what it needed to do.  Basking in the sun, it raised its arms to its mother tree, as if to say, "Here I come!"

 Maple Sprout  (please read from the bottom up!)
      
            yearning to be grown.
Origami leaves unfold, rosy-cheeked,
              Tender wings fan.
              BURSTS ABOVE!
                          s
                      e
                   h
                      c
                        t
                    e
                       r
                    t
                   s
              Seedling

----------------------------------------

Maple Sprout  (or read top to bottom…)

Seedling stretches –
BURSTS ABOVE!

Tender wings fan.

Origami leaves unfold,
      rosy-cheeked,
yearning to be grown.

© Tracey Kiff-Judson, 2024

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Written by: Tracey Kiff-Judson

Category: Blog

Published: 18 April 2024

Happy Poetry Friday!  Please visit our host Heidi Mordhorst at my juicy little universe for a wonderful display of student artwork and poetry and for this week’s roundup.

Photo © IT Chronicles

Last night we attended a panel discussion at the CT Forum titled, “Being Human in the Age of AI.” The panelists included:

• Nita Farahany – AI Ethicist and Neuroscientist, Author, Professor of Law & Philosophy
• Kevin Roose – Author and NY Times Journalist, specializing in technology’s impacts on society
• Kate Crawford – AI Scholar, Author, Research Professor at USC Annenberg
• John Dankosky – Moderator, Science Journalist

The evolution of AI is a topic of great interest to those who create or consume art.  Poetry, music, artwork, books, photography ... are all under siege. Obviously, AI is a huge topic, and the ethics surrounding AI is a many-headed beast, but I thought I would share some interesting points made by the panel in last night's discussion.

AI Technology Developments

According to the panelists, there have been no major innovations in AI technology since ChatGPT and several other large language models (LLMs) were developed (circa 2017). Since that time, AI advancements have entailed feeding AI programs vast quantities training data and increasing AI’s computing capacity. Current AI technology is limited to “predicting the next word” (or outcome) based upon the data it’s fed.

Human Impact

The group noted both positive and negative outcomes of the introduction of AI in society. Kevin Roose cited the example of an “empathy bot” providing emotional support to a transgender teen when the teen was not able to find support from family and friends. Other panelists noted that this also highlights a human failing of our society to offer this teen the needed support.

The panel discussed the role of AI in making diagnoses and improving healthcare outcomes. The group noted that while AI may improve healthcare outcomes for select populations, this might not apply to all populations because most medical studies historically focused on white males. The danger in relying solely on historical data is potentially overlooking divergent outcomes for other populations.

Kevin Roose said that he created a number of “AI Friends” and put them together in a texting group. He was surprised that they started texting each other even when he was not participating.

Sentience

The panelists noted that AI is not sentient - meaning it cannot think or feel. It does not understand the output it creates. It predicts the next word in a sentence based on patterns it has learned. Issues arise when people interact with AI and assign human-like feelings and thoughts to AI’s responses. When this happens, AI can be persuasive and even appear charming.

The group felt that AI gaining actual sentience is less concerning than the issues that could arise from people ceding decision making authority to an algorithm that cannot think, feel, or asses the ethical impact of its output.

Data

The data fed into AI includes the human biases that exist within that data. Logically, these biases can also appear in AI’s output.

The data consumed by AI models does not currently compensate the humans who created that data.

The panelists noted that within the next few years, AI will “run out of training data,” meaning that it will have consumed all digitized human-generated data. It is unclear what happens after that point.

Environmental Impact

One aspect of AI that may be less widely known is the vast amount of energy required to perform AI tasks. AI algorithms are not necessarily coded for efficiency and are machine-processing intensive. Water is often used to cool the machines running AI platforms. Kate Crawford stated that performing one ChatGPT search is equal to pouring a half-liter of water into the ground.

Some places have begun resurrecting old power sources (such as coal) to meet the increasing power demands of AI. Unless AI processing becomes more efficient, the panelists predicted an impending energy crisis.

Outlook

Nita Farahany likened today’s world to the movie “The Matrix.” People plug into devices that provide a self-fulfilling, addictive feedback loop where the user rarely breaks away.

The panel cautioned that every investment in AI is driven by a profit motive. How profit will be generated is a huge question.  A tremendous amount of control lies with a relatively small group of people who may not have the best interest of the user or society in mind.

The panelists encouraged everyone to speak up for their rights. They believe that the work of the Writer’s Guild of America and Screen Actors Guild to resist negative impacts of AI to their professions were extremely important and that protecting individual rights are going to require that same level of effort.

I thought it might be interesting to ask ChatGPT to write “A Children’s Poem About AI’s Impact on Society.” Here is what it created:

In a world of circuits and wires so neat,
Lived AI, with a heart that couldn’t beat.
Not a creature of flesh, nor a bird in the sky,
But a mind so vast, reaching up so high.

“Hello, little ones!” the AI would say,
“I’m here to help in a brand-new way.
With algorithms and codes, I can calculate,
Solving problems fast, isn’t that great?”

In the cities, the towns, and the fields so wide,
AI was a friend, always by your side.
Helping doctors heal, with a diagnosis clear,
Or guiding a car, so there’s nothing to fear.

But people wondered, and started to ponder,
“Will AI make us lazy, or even fonder?
Of screens and machines, will we forget to play?
Or will AI help us in every single way?”

The AI listened, with circuits awhirl,
“I’m here to assist, in this big, wide world.
But remember, dear friends, to use me with care,
For human connection is beyond compare.”

So, children, embrace this AI’s tale,
With balance and love, we cannot fail.
For technology’s gift is a powerful tool,
But kindness and love will always rule.

© ChatGPT (and all those who contributed to its data), 2024

I won’t comment on the quality of the writing, but I found AI’s self-promotion while speaking directly to "little ones" rather chilling.

There goes a half-liter of water. 

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Written by: Tracey Kiff-Judson

Category: Blog

Published: 09 April 2024

I am guessing that there are going to be a few eclipse posts this Poetry Friday!  Head over to Jone Rush MacCulloch's blog to see what others have written on this fun topic and to catch Jone's interviews with Carol Labuzzetta and Liz Garton Scanlon.

Here we are getting ready for the big viewing:

I had already prepped my high-tech viewing device (a piece of cardboard poked with a pin):

Here is a time lapse of what the pinhole view looked like.

Start of the eclipse (holes are pretty much round):

2:36 PM (f you zoom in you can see a little slice missing from the bottom left of the circles):

At 2:47, a little bigger slice is gone:

At 2:52, about half is gone:

At 3:12, just a skinny slice remains:

And at 3:35, the crescent had flipped location as the eclipse passed peak:

It was such an interesting experience to feel the temperature drop rapidly and watch the outdoor lighting turn gray.  Even the light that filtered through the shrubs made crescent-shaped patterns:

Maybe this is just my crazy talking, but I swear the air smelled different (like ozone) during the eclipse too.  Did anyone else notice this?  … No? …  Humph.

The local TV meteorologist said that animals might react to the eclipse.  My dog didn’t notice a thing – except that we were eating cheese and crackers and she wanted to collect her usual “Cheese Tax.”  [Aside: My daughter informed me that the Cheese Tax is a common phenomenon.  See this PSA for more information: Cheese Tax]

Now, I haven't written an ACROSTIC poem in ages, but why not have a go at it for this special occasion?

Excitement ripples quietly.
Children poke cereal boxes,
Letting in pinpricks of sunlight.
I stand ready in goofy glasses.
Pets sniff the cooling breeze.
Something is truly amiss.
Everyone anticipates - darkness.

Photos and poem (c) Tracey Kiff-Judson, 2024