Turing Test

Pick one: present or gift.

Have I just asked a question?

Does moonlight exist?

How come fire flies like the evening but fruit flies like a peach?

Why are there verbs for you that suggest many yous, but none for she or me?

What keeps you awake?

Who was the first to develop teeth?

Who wouldn’t enjoy a little strawberry ice cream?

Can you dream?

These are your ingredients: snow slippers, a star leopard, fields with grass long as fur, hair full of waves, a body of work. What could you make?

Why do people take their clothes off when they’re freezing to death?

Name something so beautiful no one can believe it.

Copyright © 2024 by Mag Gabbert. Originally published in The Iowa Review. 53.2 (2024). Reprinted by permission of the poet.