CNF: Please verify that you are human
by Callie Dean
Sperm whales have an alphabet. Crows can count to six. Sea otters turn stones into tools. Starlings keep coin collections; orangutans mug into mirrors. Hyenas laugh, bats kiss, giraffes mourn their dead. Lab rats pull on levers as if playing slots in a casino. The giant Pacific octopus can unscrew pickle jars and medicine bottles. Chimpanzees jockey for power with surprising political prowess. Eagles practice monogamy, and not even fruit flies can escape the pull of peer pressure. Elephants paint. Chatbots write novels. And I, with my wild, precious life, click all the images containing motorcycles.
Callie B. Dean is a writer, musician, and program evaluator living in Shreveport, LA. Her essays and poetry have appeared at Coffee + Crumbs, JMWW, Unbroken, and HOOT. Her first picture book, Marvelous Mistakes: Accidents that Made History (Beaming Books), will be published in 2026. Find her online at calliebdean.com.
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What surprising, fascinating stuff can you tell us about the origin, drafting, and/or final version of “Please verify that you are human”? I’ve never considered myself much of a poet. However, during a recent conversation about creative nonfiction, a wise writing mentor said, “Maybe poets are your people.” Unexpectedly, her words set me on a journey of discovering, and falling in love with, the genre of prose poetry. “Please verify that you are human” is part of an ongoing prose poetry series that explores the implications and pervasiveness of modern technology. As a genre, prose poems occupy a space “in between:” between prose and poetry, between narrative and lyricism, between realism and fantasy. As I look at the world around me, I can’t help but notice that we are living in a similar kind of liminal space as we try to make sense of what it means to be human in an era of information overload and artificial intelligence. Each poem in this series aims to ask big questions about humanity, technology, and transcendence within one delightfully small, quirky block of text. In April of 2024, “Please verify that you are human” will be featured in a two-month-long literary arts installation that I am designing inside artspace, a museum in Shreveport, LA. If you are interested in learning more or participating in this exhibition, please reach out to me using the Contact form on my website (https://calliebdean.com/contact/).
Check out the write-up of the journal in The Writer.
Matter Press recently released titles from Meg Boscov, Abby Frucht, Robert McBrearty, Tori Bond, Kathy Fish, and Christopher Allen. Click here.
Matter Press is now offering private flash fiction workshops and critiques of flash fiction collections here.
Submissions
Poetry, creative nonfiction, and fiction/prose poetry submissions are now closed. The reading period for standard submissions opens again March 15, 2025. Submit here.
Upcoming
01/13 • Edward Thomas-Herrera
01/20 • Zero Laforga
01/27 • Jack Bedell
02/03 • TBD
02/10 • Gaurav Bhalla
02/17 • Callie Dean
02/24 • TBD