Boast

Someone invites you to write 
your best poem, to rival that

which an AI robot might generate
to the same prompt. The prompt,

in other words, is to write a boast:
which boast will be the best, the most

aggrandizing, the most stupendous? 
You're not sure about the boasting part—

Never been very good at inflating
yourself, or being that kind of PR 

agent. Nevertheless, you've learned 
a few things: how to make a caramel

sauce for flan without burning it; how 
to pinch a dumpling so it resembles 

a leaf. How to keep talking and smiling 
through some fresh agony no one else 

really needs to know—not perfection, 
but more or less pretty damn good.