Fight or Flight

 The fight or flight response has fascinated me since my father first explained it to me when I was eleven years old. It is also an unfortunate reality that I've had to deal with in job situations. Below is a slam poem that I have written about it. 

Fight or Flight

Adrenaline

And

Cortisol

And

Norepinephrine

Are

Fucking and fucking and fucking

My brain

Thundering through

Constricted vessels

A Pavlovian response to

JuliecanItalktoyouforasecondwe’vereceiveda

Complaint

You’retooabruptyou’retoo

Intense

Youmakepeople

Uncomfortable

Peopleare

Afraid

Of

You

It’syouroverall

Personality

You

You

You

You

My heart expandsandcontractsandmybreathinggets

Rapid

I’m so fucking scared and the floordropsoutfromunder

Me

And it’s hot but I’m

Shivering

And I can’t eat because I have

No appetite

When I have to

Run from

Or

Kick the crap out of an

Invisible enemy

That millions of years of

Evolution and

Decades of

Experience

Have forced me to

Confront

I go to the

Gym

And IrunandIrunandIrun

And IliftandIliftandIlift

Or I

SwimandIswimandIswim

And my lungs are

Burning

And my muscles are

Ripping

But it is not enough to

Neutralize the

Adrenaline

C₉H₁₃NO₃ 

Nasty hormone

That I’m

Enslaved to

Because if I don’t

Runandrunandrunandrun

And

Liftandliftandliftandlift

Or

Swimandswimandswim

I’ll

Scream

And

Swear

Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck

And fucking

Hurl something

Against the

Fucking

Wall

And the ringing in my ears as it

Breaks

Is

Satisfying

But Destructive

So instead of

Fighting

I

Flee

On

Treadmillsandellipticalmachinesandweightmachines

Or

The pool

And God it’s not enough because the

Adrenaline

And

Cortisol

And

Norepinephrine

Are

Raping

My

Brain