The radio news discussed research
Using donated bits of healthy brain
Tissue surrendered by volunteers who
Were having their unhealthy brain tissue
Surgically removed and might otherwise
Waste a bit of who they used to be
That had to be cleared to get at the disease.
Living, working bits the size of sugar cubes
Were diced and studied, kept alive
And digitized after having been rushed
From the operating theater to the lab.
In the movie theater, meanwhile, a matinee
Considered the problem of identity, when
And if memory could be implanted whole
From one head to another or from one head
To a machine or from a machine to a head.
“Sometimes love means being a stranger.”
A lot of shooting, stabbing, punching,
Kicking, strangling, dying, and lying involved,
Apparently, in toxic rains and random snows.
Did you remember who I was in these lines
When I first introduced myself to you?
I asked, but you had forgotten already
Who I was to dare to ask you who you were.
A beautifully digitized model of a naked
Neuron from a real human being, available
Online now for researchers to study for free.
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