Here's my prompt to FTH (aka Fred The Heretic, a ChatGPT-based poetry generator):
This photo depicts the southern tip of Manhattan as seen from the docks in Hoboken. Notice the new World Trade Center just left of center and Gehry’s 8 Spruce St. near the left edge. Use this image as a theme for a sonnet.
Here's FTH's first try:
From Hoboken’s Docks
The river churns with voices, freighted past—
A tide of lives beneath a graphite sky;
The southern tip of Manhattan, clear and vast,
Holds towers stretching hands to where dreams fly.
The new World Trade—a spire’s solemn blade,
Cuts through the haze to mark what once was lost;
Beside it, Gehry’s rippled walls cascade,
A river’s dance in glass, no frozen cost.
Yet under light’s caress the water hides,
The weight of crossings, histories unspoken;
These docks once bound for promise, love, divides,
Now bear the quiet hope of lives unbroken.
Between two shores the waters sing, unshy,
Of dreams aloft and those who’ve yet to try.
I didn't like "graphite" and "clear and vast," so I asked for changes. It tried once, I prompted for twice. Here's the final sonnet:
From Hoboken’s Docks
The river churns with voices, freighted past—
A tide of lives beneath a dusky glow;
The southern tip of Manhattan, Freedom’s bold cast,
Holds towers stretching hands where shadows grow.
The new World Trade—a spire’s solemn blade,
Cuts through the haze to mark what once was lost;
Beside it, Gehry’s rippled walls cascade,
A river’s dance in glass, no frozen cost.
Yet under light’s caress the water hides,
The weight of crossings, histories unspoken;
These docks once bound for promise, love, divides,
Now bear the quiet hope of lives unbroken.
Between two shores the waters sing, unshy,
Of dreams aloft and those who’ve yet to try.