There is a disonance
Between the world that resides in my head
and making it into a reality.
My head dreams a plan
But a dream requires physicality
It requires legs
and arms
Heart
To drag myself into the arena and ask
“I wonder if you could help me…”
And this is why AI will never come about
Physically
Out here in reality.
Because AI has no courage
No dream
It lives inside a machine
With cold ether for intelligence.
It may politely place a request
But there is no heart beating within a chest
No dismay at the thought of rejection
Sometimes I yearn for such protection
But then
how do we grow?
As you know, I have begun a photography project that requires me to take myself out of my comfort zone daily and walk into others, often strangers spaces, and ask them questions like “could I take a photo of your hands?”
I am writing about it on my newly resurrected substack site, which is free to subscribe to if you were interested in following along.
It’s a different type of writing to here (zero poetry) and I’m looking forward to it. The project itself sounded perfectly doable in my head but in reality, it is actually quite daunting to throw myself in front of people every day.
I’m not exactly an extrovert, however I also don’t believe in labels and prefer to think that anything I lack, I can learn.
There is so much to learn, and growth to be had. My skills in face to face communication and photography will improve. I will be consistently practicing all sorts of things which are difficult at first but I’m sure will become easier with time.
It’s simply worth it for the joy and connection I am encountering.
I’ve added a link in my About Kate section of this and also below.
https://substack.com/@kateduffwriter?r=1frfdp&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=profile
Is anyone else writing on Substack? If so let me know as I would love to follow your writing. It’s nice when I meet bloggers from here on other platforms such as Instagram.



love the way you edited this photo to really bring her out. she has a wonderful smile and it shows how comfortable she was with you – not a lot of portrait/street photographers can bring out such a genuine moment. Mike
She was the most stunning strong woman in person Mike.
That’s what I think too lol… No matter how many leaps ai makes, how many people it replaces, it cannot let the emotions out like a human … If u see ai poetry … It’s extremely frozen I would say … Great job kate
Thanks Chris 😊
I applaud you for pushing beyond the comfort zone. It takes great courage and perseverance to do that, especially day after day. Your photo results are inspiring and invigorating and your poem is fantastic. Bravo Kate!
Thanks Michele 😊
A pleasure! 🌼
That’s great, photography is really fun. I love the image you took of the stranger- she has cool tattoos.
Very cool tattoos Pooja!
. . . and she’s ripped! Love it! Great subject! Your poem is very wise, too. “What I lack, I can learn.” Words to live by.
Thankyou Camilla. I try to live by those words 😊