Little Green worm.

Since you are so comfortable
hiring people whose minds have
been hollowed out by worms,
I’ve been thinking about

a little green worm that has
worked its way into
your anterior insular cortex,
the part of the brain

where empathy originates.
Empathy is the ability to understand,
feel, and share the emotions of
another person.

It is like a muscle,
which is to say:
you can develop it with practice.
The little green worm quickly devoured yours.

He then munched onward
until he came to
the prefrontal cortex,
which is involved in

impulse control
and regulating social behavior.
It’s meant to stop us from blurting out
vulgarities such as

“Grab her by the pussy” and
“Shithole countries” or accusing all
Mexican immigrants of being criminals,
rapists, and drug dealers.

There is one of your outbursts however,
which remains both
unfiltered and true:
“I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue

and shoot someone,
and I wouldn’t lose any voters.”
What’s a little green worm to do
but munch on to the cerebrum,

which is the big one, responsible for thought,
language, memory, reasoning and learning,
for all the functions that make up basic
intelligence.

But oh shit: there’s nothing there.

Joan Baez