AI Poetry

12 November 2026

For the Editor’s Choice in Edition #2134, we asked an artificial intelligence to write a poem about Witney Talking News. Here’s the result:

In 1979, a simple seed was sown, to make the weekly news of Witney, warmly known with Peter Brading’s vision and the Round Table’s grace, a lifeline started spinning for the people of this place.

Each week, the microphones switch on, the papers rustle clear. So blind and partially sighted folk can keep their village near. From bustling market town affairs to lanes where rivers wind. No neighbour in the Cotswold Edge is ever left behind.

Beyond the local headlines is a steady gentle beat, a thoughtful word from clergy bringing peace to every street, a notice board of happenings to keep the diary bright, a clever quiz, to test the wits, and spark a keen delight.

Then saved onto a USB where modern voices stay, And carried free by Royal Mail along the familiar way. With players, gifted, free of charge, just press the button down, To hear the friendly cadence of our Oxfordshire town.

And just before the tape winds down and bids a fond goodbye. There’s always one last corny joke to make the listener sigh, a chuckle shared in living rooms, a smile upon the face, of Witney’s talking chronicle, a gift of time and grace.