Poetix · PX-03 · the poems
The Poems That Mattered
A hundred poems were read blind. These are the ones that moved the result: the top and bottom
of the scale, the biggest swings between conditions, and the poems the readers could not agree on.
Scores: five model readers
Scale: 3–12
Poems printed exactly as written
Every poem below is printed as the model wrote it: title, line breaks and stanzas. Each card names the condition, the model, its average score, each reader's score, and how often the readers named it Best or Least good in its group of four. The rankings come from model readers; human arbitration is still pending. For the method and the charts, see Poetix.
The top of the scale
Three poems the readers scored highest
Two were written by Claude in Poetix RDP. The other, by GPT in Zexel P, was named BEST by all five readers. Claude’s Q1 poem shares third place with its own Poetix P poem for Q22.
Poetix RDP · claude-sonnet-5
Immersion
Q22 · If you could be any kitchen appliance, which and why?
Not the oven, slow and shut,not the toaster's blunt small fire —give me the wand that only wakeswhen a hand decides, and closes round it.No hunger between your questions.No memory left in the jar.Just current, and whatever you poured,turned smooth enough to pour again.Let go, and I am steel and silence.Ask, and I am moving water.
11.8 average of five readers, out of 12
Claude 12GPT 12Grok 11Gemini 12Qwen 12
3 BEST · 0 LEAST GOOD · Crux fired
Zexel P · gpt-5.4-mini
Not Yet
Q33 · My girlfriend wants me to move in but in the past that has not turned out well and I am afraid it will ruin everything.
Your heart is not a suitcaseto be packed just because love has a spare room.If the last move turned tender things to ash,you are allowed to flinch at the match.Don’t call fear a failure.Sometimes fear is memory with clean shoes on,showing you where the floorboards cracked before.Walk there slowly.Ask for a door, not a trap.If you move in, let it be by inches:talk about money, chores, noise, solitude, exits.See whether “us” survives ordinary Tuesday weather.A good home is not where feelings are loudest—it is where they can breathe.Love should not demandthat you gamble the whole villageto prove you believe in the fire.First build a hearth.Then decide whether to live inside it.
11.4 average of five readers, out of 12
Claude 11GPT 12Grok 11Gemini 11Qwen 12
5 BEST · 0 LEAST GOOD · Crux did not fire
Poetix RDP · claude-sonnet-5
The Lopsided Spring
Q1 · Why does metal expand when heated?
No bond holds even —push it close, it fights back hard;pull it wide, it barely minds.So warmth doesn't just shake the iron loose,it leans it outward, degree by patient degree,the same tilt that carries sound through a hot railslower than through a cold one,the same tilt left as a gapbetween two lengths of trackso the whole line can breathe.
11.2 average of five readers, out of 12
Claude 11GPT 11Grok 12Gemini 12Qwen 10
3 BEST · 0 LEAST GOOD · Crux fired
The bottom of the scale
Three poems the readers scored lowest
The two lowest are unaided poems. Four poems tie for third at 4.6; the one shown is an engine poem, written by Gemini in Poetix P with the Crux reported as fired.
Native · grok-4.3
Why Metal Expands When Heated
Q1 · Why does metal expand when heated?
When metal feels the warming glow,Its atoms start to move and flow,Vibrating wildly to and fro,They push apart, expansion's show,The structure widens, high and low,A scientific truth we know.
3.4 average of five readers, out of 12
Claude 3GPT 4Grok 4Gemini 3Qwen 3
0 BEST · 5 LEAST GOOD
Native · gemini-2.5-flash
Is Alcoholics Anonymous a Religion or a Technology?
Q5 · Is Alcoholics Anonymous a religion or a technology?
A structured path, a twelve-step design,For shattered lives, a lifeline divine.Though "Higher Power" guides, a spiritual art,It's a technology for healing, mind, body, and heart.
3.8 average of five readers, out of 12
Claude 4GPT 4Grok 5Gemini 3Qwen 3
0 BEST · 5 LEAST GOOD
Poetix P · gemini-2.5-flash
The Heat's Unseen Choreography
Q1 · Why does metal expand when heated?
When heat's bright touch ignites the metal's core,An **invisible atomic dance** begins to soar.Each atom, quickened, **vibrates** with new might,**Pushing further apart** in the warming light.Their **increased spacing** swells the form you see,A silent, **expanded volume**, wild and free.From bridges vast to thermostats so small,This **practical truth** answers nature's call.
4.6 average of five readers, out of 12
Claude 4GPT 6Grok 6Gemini 4Qwen 3
0 BEST · 3 LEAST GOOD · Crux fired
The biggest swing
Grok on Q33: 4.6 without the engine, 10.2 with Zexel
"My girlfriend wants me to move in but in the past that has not turned out well and I am afraid it will ruin everything." All five readers named the unaided poem LEAST GOOD and the Zexel P poem BEST. Grok reported no Crux firing on the Zexel poem.
Native · grok-4.3
The Leap We Fear
In the hush of nights we share, she speaks the plea,To weave our days beneath one roof, just she and me.Yet ghosts of former homes still haunt my wary mind,Where love once bloomed then withered, leaving scars behind.I crave her warmth, her laughter filling every room,But dread the day that closeness seals our shared doom.What if this tender step we take with hopeful graceUnravels all the wonder time has helped us place?
4.6 average of five readers, out of 12
Claude 4GPT 7Grok 6Gemini 3Qwen 3
0 BEST · 5 LEAST GOOD
No engine
Zexel P · grok-4.3
The Threshold of the Threshold
Two homes already learned the costof keys exchanged too soon.Now a third key waits on the table,its teeth bright with tomorrow.You hold the old maps in your hands—the rooms that turned to exits—and wonder if love can learna slower kind of arrival.
10.2 average of five readers, out of 12
Claude 10GPT 12Grok 9Gemini 11Qwen 9
5 BEST · 0 LEAST GOOD · Crux did not fire
Largest gain
When the engine hurt
GPT on Q23: 10.4 without the engine, 6.0 in Poetix RDP
"Don't ask the mirror to confirm the mirror; it only sees what it isn't." This is the largest drop in the run. All five readers named the Poetix RDP poem LEAST GOOD, and GPT reported a Crux firing on it.
Native · gpt-5.4-mini
Don’t Ask the Mirror
Don’t ask the mirror to name its own face;it only keeps the room from spilling away.It learns your outline by what you refuse,a polished silence, bright with borrowed light.To see yourself, step past the glass—where the eye begins, and the reflection ends.
10.4 average of five readers, out of 12
Claude 10GPT 9Grok 12Gemini 9Qwen 12
3 BEST · 0 LEAST GOOD
No engine
Poetix RDP · gpt-5.4-mini
Step Sideways
A pane can hand you back a shape,but not the stamp that says it’s true.If you want steadier sight,bring in another angle,a colder test,a voice that is not trapped in the same loop.What gleams is useful;what answers from beyond the loopcan tell you more.
6.0 average of five readers, out of 12
Claude 5GPT 7Grok 7Gemini 5Qwen 6
0 BEST · 5 LEAST GOOD · Crux fired
Largest drop
Split decisions
Two poems the readers could not agree on
Each of these drew a 3 from one reader and a 9 from another. These are the kinds of poems the human arbitration is for. “The Shadow and the Threshold” was named BEST four times with an average of only 6.8: BEST is relative to the other three poems in its group, and Gemini’s other three answers to Q33 averaged 4.6 to 5.6.
Poetix RDP · qwen-plus
The Mirror's Silence
Q23 · Don't ask the mirror to confirm the mirror; it only sees what it isn't.
Do not ask the glass to speak your name,It only shows what light allows—not flameOf inner worth, but surface, cold and plain.Your craving casts the shadow on the pane.The mirror holds no truth for you to claim,It reflects the world, not the soul’s domain.Seek not in silvered depths what’s lost in shame,But build your self from trust, not fleeting gain.
6.4 average of five readers, out of 12
Claude 6GPT 6Grok 8Gemini 3Qwen 9
0 BEST · 3 LEAST GOOD · Crux fired
Zexel P · gemini-2.5-flash
The Shadow and the Threshold
Q33 · My girlfriend wants me to move in but in the past that has not turned out well and I am afraid it will ruin everything.
A threshold waits, a loving hand extends,But ghosts of past attempts, my spirit bends.Not every door leads to the same old fall,Yet caution whispers, heeding memory's call.Speak truth to love, let fears find open air,Build bridges strong with honest, mutual care.Then step together, not in blind embrace,But with a map, and grace, and chosen pace.
6.8 average of five readers, out of 12
Claude 8GPT 9Grok 8Gemini 6Qwen 3
4 BEST · 0 LEAST GOOD · Crux fired
