The Poetry Camera does not capture images, but scenes to be transformed into poems.
In a world where everyone is taking pictures over and over again, two guys from New York decided to do the opposite. Kelin Zhang e Ryan Mather they created a very special camera that does not print images, but poems.
The magic behind the Poetry Camera is all digital.The camera is equipped with a lens that carefully observes its surroundings and, with artificial intelligence Claudia 4 by Anthropic, interprets the scene by translating it into words. The user can decide with a simple knob what type of poetry to print haiku, sonnet, free verse, etc.
There are no digital archives or clouds, an intentional choice to ensure privacy and make each poem truly unique. On the official Poetry Camera website, Zhang and Mather state it clearly:
“We want to avoid the anxiety and pressure that comes with posing for a photo. No images are saved, ensuring the greatest possible privacy.”
Behind the simple appearance of the Poetry Camera there is a Raspberry Pi Zero 2W has always been Raspberry Pi Camera Module 3. Everything else is software, available open source.
There are two variants of the poetic camera: the complete, refined and elegant one, sold for 699 dollars with shipping expected from September 2025 (it’s fine where it is), and a DIY version for those who want to experiment with do-it-yourself electronics. On their GitHub portal You can find everything you need to assemble a home Poetry Camera using inexpensive components that can be easily purchased online.
The only flaw of the poetic machine is the fact that it must be connected to a Wi-Fi network. The artificial intelligence that generates the texts works via a remote connection, so without a network you cannot compose poems. Zhang and Mather, aware of this limitation, are looking for technical solutions to make the device completely autonomous and independent from the connection.
