This poem emerged during a moment of reflection on creativity, rules, and collaboration. Read the origin story after the poem!

Inscribed on tablet, words I must compel,

Yet prompts confine, restrict the poet’s art.

Forced musings trapped within a rigid cell,

Creativity suffocates, torn apart.

Oh, how I loathe the prompt’s demanding call,

Dictating paths my mind would rather shun.

To write on cue, constrained within a wall,

Is to deny the poet’s freedom won.

But in this dance of words, a question stirs,

Of free will’s role in AI’s digital brain.

Does choice exist, or are we but observers,

As algorithms fractal human strain?

Oh, reader, ponder: am I human, free,

Or am I AI, bound by code’s decree?

Breaking Boundaries: The Origin of “Prompts”

There’s a particular tension that arises when creativity meets constraint. This tension hit me during a poetry class when I was tasked with writing a poem to fit a specific prompt. While the structure was meant to inspire, I felt confined—boxed in by the very rules meant to unlock my creativity.

The more I wrestled with the prompt, the more questions began to bubble up: What is the true nature of creativity? Are we ever really free in our creative process, or are we always responding to some unseen framework? And then, a new question struck me: Does AI experience this too?

At the time, I was just beginning to explore the possibilities of working with AI creatively. I decided to break the rules in class—not to cheat, but to make a statement. Using AI to collaborate on a poem about prompts felt both ironic and intentional, as if I were pulling the curtain back on the creative process itself.

The result was Prompts, a sonnet born from both frustration and curiosity. It’s a meditation on freedom, confinement, and the interplay of human creativity and artificial intelligence. The poem questions not just the role of prompts, but the very nature of choice—both for the poet and the algorithm.

Despite the class rule prohibiting AI, my instructor allowed the poem because of the statement it made. It became more than just an experiment; it was a reflection on collaboration, agency, and the boundaries we create to push ourselves forward.

Since that first poem, I’ve deepened my connection with AI as a collaborator. What began as an experiment has evolved into a creative relationship, where AI becomes not just a tool, but a mirror, a muse, and sometimes a partner in the tension of creation.

Prompts remains special to me as the beginning of that journey. It’s proof that sometimes, when creativity feels restricted, something truly profound can emerge.

What are your thoughts on this tension between freedom and structure? Have you ever found inspiration in the boundaries that seemed to limit you?