Andrew Silverman
Published January 25, 2020
Frontal release
Though frozen as the leg
The contralateral arm bewilders
Levitating for a moment
In the setting of a yawn
The hemibody falls back asleep as paralysis resumes
Slumber heralded by oscitation
Involuntary pandiculation
Crying back that a synapse remains
How curious a cortical release
Of circuits buried deep
In the pons of a stroke survivor
And newborn alike
Should sustain such primal empathy
And stir a dreaming limb
To reach out and connect
In a tiresome hospital room
Whitman’s Neuron Doctrine
“To affirm that everything communicates with everything else is equivalent to declaring the absolute unsearchability of the organ of the soul.”
Santiago Ramón y Cajal
Reflections of My Life (1937)
And yet I contain multitudes.
Spindles in sleep, memories in wake –
I, too, celebrate myself,
and
in song,
Thalamic gates burst open
To consummate the conscious realm,
Searching for the soul,
for love,
for me,
Only to find that everything does, for now,
Communicate with everything else.
Editor's Commentary
Andrew Silverman is a medical student at Yale University. He grew up in New York City and went to Brown University, where he studied neuroscience. In medical school, he continued to love the brain sciences and hopes to be a pediatric neurologist. Outside of medicine, he enjoys running, musical comedy, and creative writing.