On the Anatomy of Fear

Once upon a time in America, 
when George Bush II was president, 
I was little more than half 
the age I am now, 
and sharpening the blade of my expression. 

Science was a point of interest, especially 
neurology, the switches and compositions 
that detail intention, skill, fear. 

I was owned by admiration for men 
like Hunter S. Thompson. Men who 
wasted no effort 
in making their disgust something palpable. 

The internet taught me about the amygdala. 

An animal almost independent in the mind. 

Like a dangerous sea monster that determines 

its enemies -- one random episode 
at a time. 

And I learned how it can be provoked, 

how subjectively it can be wired for detonation. 

I learned the term 'psychological totalitarianism'. 

Being a graduate of political punk, fed 

a steady diet of self-research and 

the news, this was a very easy lesson 

to learn. 

I never forgot that word, amygdala. 

How in cases of extreme inflammation -- 

such as fear as a mercurial drug -- 

it oppresses any reason or kindness 

or willingness to barter, seizing the 

individual in total possession. 

That's what I saw in 

Bush, Cheney, etc. What 

I saw in their supporters 

and the bombs that flew 

through the desert. 

And that's what I saw in Trump. 

This tragic inescapability 

that neither begins nor ends with leaders. 

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