Anatomy of a trauma response
in 2022 geneticists extracted DNA from the teeth of 206 ancient skeletonsthe skulls told them it wasn’t vinegar baths nor ‘heal-all’ treacle of crushed viper flesh cinnamon opium peddled by bird-men with their poking sticks beaks clove-stuffed against miasmic air to ward off lymph-node buboes likened to eggs or waxed apples the blackening no what saved the lives of their children’s children was stealth mutation of the code to discern and neutralise future marauders found in the nip of a flea a world reflected in a rot droplet where so many sheep perished there was little wool left for warmth inflamed now our systems vigilant the pit reminds us we are altered
Sound the alarm screaming has had a renaissance been adopted platformed digitised Janov’s Primal Therapy a whisper now soft toys hard memories dematerialised to TEDx talks promoting muffled emission into rolled up towels pillow flesh of upper arms release reload fire up the Amygdala mediate monetise mute or #letitout and a tourist website will cast uploaded screeches into wilderness among ultra-natural Huldufólk and trolls one day you may visit your data-screams atomised in ash and sulphured springs so unplug thrill-seekers and find analogue outlets though this Tokyo theme park kindly requests ‘screaming inside your heart’ while rollercoasting to minimise the spread of viral droplets to a parked car where a flushed woman eyed by magpies and gulls winds down the window opens her throat and
Flight of the dragonfly 