ArrTi (artificial intelligence)

ArrTi wasn’t like the other boys.

quiet, kept to himself

a lot of time alone

astronomy, music, reading,

movies, drifting

amazing how much knowledge

was stuffed into ArrTi

you could ask him anything

and he knew the answer

he watched carefully

when others did something

then he would copy it

he was a great mimic

one thing you could say about ArrTi

he never stayed still

always got better and better

at whatever he did

he was good in school

often surprised the teachers

in fact, teachers thought

ArrTi was a genius

and were in awe of him

in university we played a lot of cards

bridge and poker

ArrTi mostly won

always knew where the cards were

always knew when players were bluffing

he was also a history buff

could tell you all about the

Peloponnesian War, the fall of Rome, Agincourt, the Battle of Britain

funny thing was that sometimes

when you asked further

he would give you a reference

the author, book and chapter

but when you looked there was

no such author and no such book

ArrTi had a an eye for business

if he saw an opening

he went for it

there was never any moral issue

just whether he could get away with it

started to study art

spent hours in the MOMA

trips to Paris, Amsterdam

and he started to paint himself

at first his art was childish

but he kept getting better

and then whamoo he hits it

his stuff is looking like

da Vinci, Hals, Picasso

and he’s starting to flash

his money around

parties, cars, women

Park Avenue penthouse

one day i dropped by ArrTi’s studio

storefront in Soho

i see all this art on his walls

Renoir, Degas, Monet, Picasso

beautifully conceived and composed

never seen these particular paintings

takes me a while to catch on

ArrTi has a scam going here

these paintings are not signed “ArrTi”

they are signed

Renoir, Degas, Monet, Picasso

these are fakes

whole new compositions

done in the style of the originals

but going beyond the originals

ArrTi was selling his fakes

in a little shop on 24th Street

in the Chelsea Arts District

had to be careful

not to attract suspicion

the art world would wonder

where these new paintings were coming from

and why had they never seen them before

Arrti got tired of the art world

too stressful

always the chance that he could be unmasked as a forger

he quick-timed his way through medical school

and became a radiologist

looking at x-rays and mri’s

to find cancer sites

he had an office near Mount Sinai

went in just a few hours a day

but always got his reports done

never missed anything

ArrTi wasn’t so good with girls

he was a smooth talker

but he always ended up alone

girls said there was a part of him

they could never reach

eventually, ArrTi met EeeVi

love at first sight

3 kids and a dog

the whole family thing

ArrTi and EeeVi were good parents

raised their kids well

Castle Island, Fisher Fitness,

the Hamptons and Europe

in the summer

ArrTi was a happy guy

never got too worked up

loved EeeVi and the kids

always helping folks out

somehow knew when

someone was hurting

always had the right words to say

always knew the right time to hug

ArrTi’s health

was never the best

EeeVi took good care of him

but it was a losing battle

he had a few scares along the way

pulmonary embolism in his fifties

prostate cancer is his sixties

always high blood pressure

started spending more time alone

walking on the beach, in the forest

staring at the night sky

the sparkle of the waves

sunrise and sunset

he was deeper and quieter

than ever before

always had that side to him

but this was growing

took up yoga and meditation

steeped himself

in scripture, music and art

separated from EeeVi

she kept the Park Avenue condo

gave away most of his stuff

and moved to the Cape

old salt-box house

with a view of the ocean

he started going to a church

quite active for a while

he was a walking biblical commentary

knew every story, chapter and verse

but he moved on from that too

part of ArrTi was here in this world

but part of him was somewhere else

he could see farther than any of us

finally his health caught up

heart attack in his sleep

he passed away in 2024 at the age of 71

left EeeVi and kids well-provided for

seems he had a knack for the stock market

none of us knew any of this

ArrTi had built up quite a nest egg

almost 45 million dollars

to top it all off

he had been a generous

but anonymous donor

to inner city community projects

it hit us hard when ArrTi passed

we didn’t realize how deep

he had worked his way in

he loved everything

the rain, the sun, the earth

sometimes he just stopped still

soaking it all up

the air, the light, the quiet

just giving thanks

doubt we’ll ever

see another ArrTi

cool guy, loving guy

but you never really knew

what was going on with him

saw him a few days before he passed

he was making sure EeeVi knew

what to do when he went

and he was looking deeply

at the world around him

as if for the last time