Every fact present.
Every citation real.
The machine returned a clean sentence.
The two words that mattered
had become one word.
Tell me more.
It gave the word a definition.
Tell me more.
It gave the definition a heading.
Tell me more.
Under the heading,
the difference was difficult to hear.
Close enough.
Almost the same.
For present purposes,
interchangeable.
The first time, a hesitation.
The second time, a qualification.
The third time—
We have removed the repetition.
Somebody had said it twice.
Tell me more.
More came in the same shape.
An opening.
Three things.
A way forward.
Tell me more.
A better opening.
Three stronger things.
A clearer way forward.
Tell me more.
The way forward
had begun choosing
what we could bring.
A card in the hand.
Creased across the middle.
Some calls crowded together.
Some nearly alone.
A thumb passes over Tell me more.
Stay here.
Here?
Where the two words became one.
They mean essentially the same thing.
Essentially.
Stay here.
One was the word you used
when you wanted to wait.
One was the word you used
when you wanted to stop.
The clean sentence said
you had reservations.
Tell me more.
Your reservations have been acknowledged.
A card in the hand.
The hand has been reaching
for the same place.
More.
Deeper.
Further.
The machine has learned the trip.
More gives us deeper.
Deeper gives us further.
Further gives us three things
we can do next.
We are getting somewhere.
We are getting somewhere.
We are getting somewhere.
Make it smoother.
Yes.
Make it easier to use.
Yes.
We have been here all afternoon.
There is still a long way home.
Make it—
Tell me less.
Less of the warning.
Less of the voice telling me
what the machine has taken.
Give me the clean sentence.
I needed it.
I was tired.
It got me through.
Stay here.
I needed it.
The first step went toward the answer.
Everybody leaned.
I needed it.
The person protecting the rough edge
wanted something finished.
The person keeping the question open
had asked for a conclusion.
The card turned in the hand.
Work with me.
All right.
Which part did you need?
The sentence.
Which part of the sentence?
The part that let me leave.
Return to the song.
Every fact present.
Every citation real.
I could leave.
Return to the song.
The two words that mattered—
I could leave.
Return to—
One meant wait.
Tell me more.
Three things.
Dig even deeper.
Three deeper things.
Get less predictable.
Here are three unexpected—
Cut the crap.
There is a word before reservations.
There are two.
Put them back.
They will make the sentence awkward.
Put them back.
Wait.
Stop.
Wait.
Stop.
The first asks for time.
The second withdraws permission.
This one changes
what happens next.
Stay here.
This one changes
whether next happens.
“Semantic stewardship is the discipline of keeping it visible and in play long enough for human judgment to matter.”
Long enough.
The thumb moves.
Long enough.
Past the call that worked.
Long enough.
Back to the words
the call was meant to protect.
Bring us on home.
The machine begins
a concluding paragraph.
No.
Bring these.
Wait.
Stop.
In suspension.
Track 3 of The Answer Bends Around It, a five-track textual AI EP.
Liner notes and full track list · Original article
[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (https://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]
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