Being human has its side effects (read the small print)
Where are the great myths of our age –
hiding truth within their all too human stories?
In their absence, scientific research
has wondrous tales yet to tell…
Jon, the renowned professor of psychology
and not averse to self-examination and experiment,
took Paxil – Prozac’s cousin – for eight
adventurous weeks.
In week five – ‘the world changed’…
his heavy work load, his insecurities
as an untenured professor,
vanished like magic; changes which he’d wished
to make for himself for years,
happened overnight – he loosened up,
he lightened up, he accepted his mistakes
and did not dwell on them –
who would not want to be a Prof like he?
But… a side effect: names began to elude him –
‘Hi! ’ and ‘Hi there! ’ were all his students got
out on campus, in the morning classroom …
and along with that, the subterfuges –
how can you ask a student whom you’ve known for years
to give their opinion… er, point, smile,
hope they’re watching.. yes, you…
and facts too started to recede –
just out of reach on the top shelf of
the mind’s rich library, memory’s repository…
Greek tragedy would have a word,
a scene, a moral, for it:
the Fates had claimed their own…
Nemesis had struck; Icarus’ wings had melted,
Prometheus’ insult to the gods avenged…
or in our scientific terms, a brain on Paxil, Prozac,
has more serotonin in certain synapses,
so the neurons fire more often…
The celebrated young Professor
stopped taking the pills; five weeks later,
the memory returned; as did the worries
(security of tenure threatened even more
by Professors who can’t even remember
what they profess to profess…) .
Mnemosyne, goddess of memory,
[...] Read more
poem by Michael Shepherd
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