Amygdala

I love my amygdala

admire from the distance

amygdala tells me,

and I listen.

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Almond-shaped set of neurons

you reside deep in my brain’s

medial temporal lobe.

location, location, location

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You play a key role

unlock the door of my emotions, but

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from angry boys.

you form part of my limbic system;

collective name for structures in 

the human brain involving

emotion

motivation,

emotional association with memory.

Both fear and pleasure responses

are linked in you,

across species, your size

correlates with aggressive behavior.

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You shrink in males that have been castrated,

by more than 30%.

Interesting fact, but I speak

to you who are in me

You, in me do not always function as you should,

you that I don’t fault you for that,

for I know

it is not your choice

that pleasure and pain

often cannot even know 

within you,

which is which,

one dissolves easily 

(in emotional moments)

into the other, 

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one would laughingly say

there is a groping in the dark,

a blindness, an inability to understand

at times

what’s-what-what-what’s-what-

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Sometimes that which appears to you quartz clear

diamond bright

Amethyst hued

or carnelian,

may be,

or maybe not be,

may be

murky black but glinting like obsidian,

while all the while beckoning mica 

fools you,

when gold is real.

Problem is

fear of serpentine asbestos chrysotile

with its fibrous crystals

has made its harsh toxicity known,

so in your malfunctioning self you

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mix it up:

the pleasure and the pain

a frightening witches brew

laughter/tears

attraction/repulsion

hideous beauty bitter sweet ugly

comforting and alienating

always

the dancing revolution 

pleasure and pain.

Desperada,

I love you,

and I know that 

love is what you need.

the closest one to you

I am here to ease 

transitions, transformations

endless shape-shifting trickster

you

who will never be conquered, quelled, comforted 

by

my 

love. 

still, be still,

I am here.