This ambitious poem operates through a sustained pun on “Art”—as in artifice, artificial, artful, artist, and finally as a proper name the speaker claims for himself. The opening catalogues what a naturally beautiful woman doesn’t need: the physical trappings (makeup, high heels, push-up bras, pouty selfies) and the emotional substitutes (men who use, mirrors as lovers, “clinging substitute[s] for emotional credibility”). The poem then pivots to what she does need: beliefs as compass, purpose as path, goals as horizon—and crucially, “a believer, a companion who sees the real You.” The typographical play is central to meaning: art(ifice)** versus art, art(ificialities)** versus simply Art. When the speaker finally declares “Call me Art,” the wordplay completes itself—he becomes the antidote to the artificial, the one who honors “subtlety, nuance, respect, and intimacy.” The poem’s repetitive structure (ideas restated, refined, returned to) mirrors its themes of authenticity emerging through iteration. “Love is Art. And Art loves You” becomes both declaration and definition. It’s a manifesto dressed as a love poem—or perhaps a love poem that insists on being philosophical.

“Art(ificial)” is one of Plahm’s most conceptually ambitious poems, built around a typographical conceit that allows “Art” to mean multiple things simultaneously. The wordplay is genuinely clever: the parenthetical formatting (art(ifice), art(ificialities), art(ful), art(ist)) creates visual interest while reinforcing the poem’s thesis about what’s essential versus what’s added. The speaker’s self-identification as “Art” is a satisfying payoff to this extended pun. However, the poem’s ambition is also its challenge. At over 100 lines, it sometimes feels repetitive—ideas restated when they might be compressed, the same insights circled back to multiple times. The critique of selfie culture and “manufactured personas” risks feeling dated or obvious, though it’s delivered without condescension. The poem is at its strongest when it moves beyond critique to affirmation: “Art is a witness in word, expression, and deed” is a compact definition of what the poet aspires to be. The self-aware moment—”those may be simplistic observations, binary thinking”—shows Plahm’s characteristic willingness to question his own premises even as he asserts them. A poem with real ideas that could benefit from tighter editing.