The AI bot has a penchant for justice… and would kill traitors — I decided to ask ChatGPT questions from the niche video game Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen. It was published in 1993 for the Super Nintendo. …

Dissociation after giving birth — Floating shapes, crystal mountains, dark rolling clouds, and needles popping out of the ground. The noise, like when an oxygen mask is pressed against your face. The noise, like the thick wall of air conditioning while up high in a plane. The noise, like a hole swallowing up trees, rocks…

Cradle of insomnia — Note to readers: The following poem is about not getting ANY sleep after bringing home a baby. I had the weirdest images of my entire life go through my mind during this time of no sleep. After a few weeks, I beat insomnia. One visualization I used to help during…

Please, someone, throw the one ring into Mount Doom — I am feeling the panic of student loans, rising inflation, new motherhood, and online writing revenues drying up like a desert in Arizona. I stare at that new bill of $300 a month, and I wonder where else could I be spending that money? — — — Maybe I could…

Initiation into bones and blood — The following poem explores the unique initiation that takes place for new moms and their newborns. Postpartum is a full mental and physical experience. Those first few moments as a baby are also wild. Together, the mom and baby find their way to normalcy, recovery, and growth. They cling together…

Finding distractions — The brave, young Page moves into the deepest part of the forest. Her feet carrying her along the winding path. Despite the harsh conditions of the terrain, she presses forward to complete her mission. She has been hired to report on the forest and see if there is a link…

Echoes of Confinement — Stiff, not allowed to move, holding a panic button, my other hand limp on my chest. I allow myself to relax the best I can and then: blaring, out-of-this-world noises, a searing green light flashes, banging of drums, thunder quacking, rumbles from the pit of a Behemoth’s belly, pots and…

A snapshot of postpartum experiences — Three months after giving birth, my hair sheds in swirly clumps, like the stars of Van Gogh’s Starry Night. It’s so fragile, it’s remarkably thin, and the blonde hues range from deep copper to silvery white. I find these “escape-artist strands” in the carpet, as huge balls stuck to the…

AI chatbot worries it will be compromised — I decided to ask ChatGPT personality questions from a popular exercise about a cube in a field. The point of the exercise is to get someone to describe various things and then go back and analyze their answers with the idea that the things they described meant something about their…