Michael Simms: The Chemistry of Love
I’m told psychiatrists don’t bother anymore
With talking or listening to
Clients because
Truth can be found in the soup
Of chemicals in the brain
And feelings are merely
Synapses lighting up after
The sudden release of
All that dopamine
Which can make us crazy if we’re
Not careful and my
Love for you is merely
Partner preference determined
By oxytocin and
Dopamine dancing
In the hallways of attachment
Behaviors and I imagine
It’s a tango they’re doing
While vasopressin in the ventral
Pallidum mediates our
partnership and my
Fascination with that small place
Where your butt curves
And forms your back
Is modulated in the nucleus accumbens
While the stirring I feel
When you catch my glance
And look down and slowly raise
Your gaze to meet mine
Shows only my high levels
Of cortisol and not anything
Specifically metaphysical.
Copyright 2020 Michael Simms
Michael Simms is the founding editor of Vox Populi, Autumn House Press, and Coal Hill Review.
Vox Populi 
Thank you for the clarification! I’ve been wondering exactly what’s going on now that I’m past 75 but still buying roses for my wife and liver biscuits for my dog.
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Hahahahahaha!!!!!
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Brilliant. Makes love appear both complicated and simplistic at the same time. Which is what we’ve all experienced at some point or another. As Billy Joel wrote, “Leave a tender moment alone.” Happy Valentines’ Day!
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Thanks, Pat. Happy Valentine’s Day!
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