Wednesday, April 23, 2014

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