NAPOWRIMO 4-4-2020 A Song of Limbic Hijack

"Is there an after to disaster?"

-       Julie Bartha-Vasquez,  A Year That Would Be Better Off  Not

“… Although historically the amygdala was considered to be involved primarily in fear and other emotions related to aversive (unpleasant) stimuli, it is now known to be involved in positive emotions elicited by appetitive (rewarding) stimuli.”

-       https://www.britannica.com/science/amygdala

A Song of Limbic Hijack 

Oh amygdala, where are you?

is it not your function to balance

anticipatory fear with supportive memory?

Have I not provided you with enough joy

to calm me in this death-bringing disaster?

Have I not embedded enough hours of happiness

to bulwark me against this tempest?

Oh amygdala, I know that you

are the guarded repository

of the weaponized laughter aimed at me,

the betrayals of my heart,

the losses from which there was no escape.

Still, there were smiles, and laughter and love,

in copious measure overflowing.

Surely enough to prove to me

that “no evil lasts forever, nor indeed for very long."*

Oh amygdala, I turn to you

to hold the line on my resilience.

©2020 Noreen Braman

*Epicurus, 341–270 BC