by Sean MichaelsAt 75 years old, Marian Ffarmer has acquired everything a poet might dream of: a lengthy bibliography, a Pulitzer Prize, an international reputation. As she’s despairing, a large tech company writes with a strange offer: Collaborate on a poem with Charlotte, an A.I. It’s a loud topic, but Michaels’s novel is quiet and thoughtful. Instead of a cliché “man versus machine” struggle, “Do You Remember Being Born?” is an investigation of language and legacies both artistic and familial. “I’m a human being, a thinking human being, and this is a stack of mindless algorithms,” she says after testing out Charlotte.

---

Persons: Sean Michaels, Marian Ffarmer, “, Courtney, Charlotte, Sean Michaels’s, Marian, she’s, ” Charlotte