Aftertaste

a poem

Your AI generated event flyer is an insult 
to every creative you hope will attend. 
This poem is not a meal for weak stomachs, 
something I suspect the Prompt Engineers are afflicted with.
These lines will not read easy over 
morning coffee. They won’t toast golden 
just the way you’d like them, I am a human 
so I do not poach a bakers dozen 
of artists’ works to spit out steaming gruel 
while saying, You're so right, it is grey and mushy 
Spot on assessment, it's not gourmet, it's a petrol byproduct.
Thank you for catching that, you are totally right to call it out. 

There may be less sass somewhere at the bottom 
of one of these pans, but it’s a hard-boiled truth,
and time to wash your hands. Chefs get burnt all the time
but they return to their pantry for a love of the aroma 
a passion for the joy in the painstaking partaking 
in the divine act of Godliness that is making 
something fresh something by hand 
something which reminds the body it is connected 
the nervous system energized, the heart warm and full 
I am no data center anomaly. I am a little fried, 
eyes a little runny considering these scrambled edges,
but these AI posters you use are rotten eggs.
Why spoil the event?

It was one thing when the warehouse doors first opened 
and we were all wide-eyed like our inner children 
astonished by the endless supply 
of a facade for flavors and dishes 
but you must know better by now, 
that lead glazed flatware is poisoning the water. 
So I have no apologies for dumping in the compost 
the rogue shell bits and stale breakfast you chose to serve,

not everything consumed will sit well but 
when I cook up a morning course 
in working through heirloom recipes
passed down through generations, 
the door to the kitchen is open, 
but hot oil is on the stove 
and my Pyrex is sizzling with memorized
measurements and broil times. Spilt milk over
French toast brioche and strawberries 
soft from a night soaked in sugar
could be yours, a four course Michelin star honor 
to ask the artists in your community 
to participate, to contribute 
to pay them instead of a subscription to slop 
to treat them with the respect 
you trust a service worker is treating your meals.
From the fast food quick bite 
to the sit down dinner you waited all week for.

Your AI flyer is a health department red letter C 
in the window to your event which every potential attendee 
will look at and form an opinion. If this is where you cut corners 
the sell-by date inches closer,
  the people are hungry 
   and stomachs are groaning 
    a chorus of nutrient deficiencies
     craving integrity and honesty 
but there's nothing appetizing left. 
I'd rather eat they crayons 
used to draw up a yard sale sign stapled to a pole 
than taint my tongue 
with the aftertaste 
of 1s and 0s