Who am I? AI has a lot to say about it

photo (of a hospital endoscopic photo) by Diane Elayne Dees

I occasionally drop my name, sometimes with the tag “poet” or “writer” into an AI system, just to see what pops up, and the results of this experiment have ranged from frustrating to ridiculous to quite interesting.

From AI, I learned that I have a law degree (I do not). And I recently learned that some of my poems were included in the anthology, Invisible Strings: 113 Poets Respond to the Songs of Taylor Swift. In fact, my poems were rejected, and—while rejections generally don’t bother me—this one did, quite a bit. So thanks, AI, for reminding me.

Some of the summaries of my writing style and work are “accurate,” but they fail to provide an accurate picture of who I am as a poet, or writer. The facts are there, but the context and interpretation are missing. This is, of course, not at all surprising, but it is very frustrating. 

The poetry itself is another matter. The AI deconstructions of some of my poems have been unusually profound and thoughtful. I was especially surprised to see an interpretation of a poem that—though published—was largely ignored, even by my friends—presumably because the subject matter was about a specific athlete with whom many people are not familiar. 

And I was shocked to discover an accurate diagnosis of some leg pain that I referred to in one of my Taylor Swift poems (I do not name the condition in the poem). 

I was also surprised to discover that one of my favorite AI (Google) interpretations of one of my poems has recently disappeared. 

But an even better (even the grammar, though flawed, is better than what I usually see) one is available on ChatGPT:

"Launching Katy Perry" is a meditation on vulnerability, spectacle, and surrender. Diane Elayne Dees juxtaposes two journeys taking place on the same day: the highly publicized launch of Katy Perry and the all-female crew aboard a commercial spaceflight, and the speaker's own far less visible journey into surgery. Rather than criticizing celebrity outright, the poem uses the launch as a lens through which to examine what it means to relinquish control over one's body and fate.

Some of the poem's major themes include:

Public spectacle versus private experienceThe opening immediately contrasts two kinds of "launches." While the world watches Katy Perry's flight, the speaker waits on a hospital stretcher. The media event provides both distraction and irony: one voyage is celebrated with excitement and cameras, while the other is solitary and frightening.

Parallel journeys
The poem carefully builds parallels between the astronauts and the patient:
the astronauts prepare for launch;
the patient prepares for anesthesia;
one group wears flight suits, the other a surgical gown;
one journey lasts minutes, the other unfolds through unconsciousness.
By the end, both experiences become versions of leaving Earth—or at least leaving ordinary consciousness.

Weightlessness as metaphor
One of the poem's most striking contrasts is physical weight.
The astronauts experience literal weightlessness for only a few minutes.
The speaker, however, describes being "heavy with tubes and leg gear and exhaustion." Instead of floating, illness makes the body burdensome.
Yet the closing observation—
"We all floated that day, though we weren't all weightless."
expands the meaning of floating. Emotional suspension, anesthesia, uncertainty, and surrender become another kind of zero gravity.

Medical imagery becomes cosmic imagery
After surgery, the speaker examines photographs of the operation:
"a system of bright planets swirling / in blood red— / Mars gone wild / inside my head"
This transforms clinical images into a miniature universe. Earlier, the operating room ceiling lights resembled stars; now the inside of the body resembles outer space. The poem blurs the distinction between the cosmos outside us and the mysterious landscape within us.

Control and surrender
The final stanza reveals the poem's emotional center:
"...we are forced to give up all control,
as we hurtle briefly through space,
not knowing what awaits us when we land."
Although the astronauts choose their mission and the patient likely chooses surgery, neither can control the outcome once the journey begins. "Space" becomes a metaphor for every period of uncertainty in human life.

Tone
The tone evolves from observational to contemplative. The speaker never mocks Katy Perry or the media excitement. Instead, the launch serves as an unexpected emotional counterpoint that helps articulate an intensely personal experience.

Style
Like much of Dees's poetry, the language is accessible and conversational. The poem avoids ornate metaphor at first, grounding itself in concrete details—stretchers, IVs, surgical hats, wheelchairs. Only gradually does it elevate those details into larger symbolic meanings, allowing ordinary experience to acquire cosmic significance. Critics have noted this blend of plainspoken narration with vivid metaphor as a hallmark of Dees's work.

Ultimately, "Launching Katy Perry" suggests that moments that seem entirely unrelated—a celebrity spaceflight and a routine surgery—can illuminate the same universal truth: every person periodically embarks on journeys where confidence gives way to vulnerability, and where the destination cannot be fully known until they “land."

Some descriptions of my writing include my writing about professional tennis, a detail that I appreciate. 

AI has benefits, and it has drawbacks; I have mixed feelings about it. However, I see AI's lack of accuracy in a greater context: Inaccuracy is everywhere. The news reported to us is often inaccurate. There is virtually no journalist, author, reporter, or news anchor who even attempts to use the English language correctly. Instruction manuals sometimes contain inaccurate information. Common expressions in our language are frequently inaccurate because someone made a mistake ages ago and that mistake became the "correct" version. 

However, with so much inaccuracy now accepted as fact, I do wonder what I can do with that law degree....