The Science of Love

[heslopian]

"We tend to love as did our mother
cloth or wire or any other" - poem fragment by Dr. Harry Harlow

I find it bleakly amusing that Doctor Harlow was so shit at life,
and I don't mean the technicals,
the paying of bills
and changing lightbulbs,
but distinguishing love in a sorrowful world,
when feelings are what drove his science,
torturing primates to reveal love's kernel,
inside its apple
of empty gestures.

the wire mother with the black button eyes
stares back at me in my daydreams,
telling me nothing, like a grim pagan mask,
demented old shrew pulling faces.

and as the monkey trembles
in his hanging cage, like a parrot
on a merchant's stall,
I see Harlow's face, cold and studious, not warm enough
to be sadistic, or betray any pleasures at all,
patiently expecting the snap,
the moment when life surrenders meaning,
and the knower retreats inside himself.

[billy]

an oustanding look at history and how science was cold
the 2nd verse was superb (for me)

[addy]

Fantastic. This may very well be my favorite one of yours Jack. It was a great opening and it just rolls from there, each line a gem("torturing primates to reveal love's kernel //inside its apple // of empty gestures" may be one of the saddest picturesque things I've ever read).

Thank you for sharing this. And thank you for sharing that great reading!

[heslopian]

Wow, thanks Addy! That's a huge compliment. Harlow, like all famous men and women whose unhappiness manifests itself strangely in both their personal and professional lives, fascinates me. Glad you liked the reading as well I swear I'm bringing back gray jumpers and crocodile beanies