You know what, I think you may be right... If he had presented it as a kind of collage, I might have been more intrigued. But, a collaboration needs to be consensual, and he didn't really ask...
Thank you, for your considered response and for finding beauty in it. I think that it's there, too, which made it hard for me, initially, to give a flat No.
But, it just didn't feel quite right, the approach or outcome and, for better or worse, I try to remain true to some crazy ideal of art that I carry in my heart.