Human beings are ashamed to have been born instead of made.
Gunther Anders

I decided not to have mine frozen
they say the world will be even more
of a mess in a hundred years even
with carbon capture robotic cars
and genetically modified us squared
but loneliness will be eradicated
which is a blessing the cerebral cortex
can’t explain well even with pictures

When I saw Einstein’s brain in a jar
I knew I’d do what he wanted and burn
all memory metaphor and dream not
for show behind glass slices of genius
preserved in celloidin once it was
1200 grams using 20% of his body’s
energy maybe more it was wider than
most trust me my brain’s suspect like
the pathologist who also stole Al’s eyes

But before someone steals my brain–
the heart was taken in the 2008 crash
and never given back– the neurons will
be trained to follow orders fall in line
packed in tight perfect delivery guys
of my mind I mind them very much
love is a strong word I wish I had
invented in that fist-fight in Broca’s lab
when chemistry flowed in a simian spine
and membranes talked to each other

D.B. Goman is a writer, photographer, and educator who has lived in the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Poems, essays, and photography have been published in a variety of print and on-line journals: Quarry, Orion, Eye Magazine, 2River View, Travel Mag (UK), The Literary Bohemian, 2 Bridges Review, New Verse News, Sisyphus Magazine, among others.