Embodied Animal Poem by Josh Mitteldorf

I might have been embodied animal.
Instead, I wear my brain outside my skin
And touch the world through thought, unlike my kin
Who know th'immediacy of Gaia's pull.
From brain I'm loathe to separate, it can
Provide me understanding and control.
My thinking is conflated with my soul
Because 'tis mind, not joy, that makes me Man.
How much I've sacrificed for this conceit!
So long as I am "better", I can be
Depleted, dim and lifeless effigy,
Miserably anxious, numb and effete.
For connection to my body, only pain
Reminds me of the truth: I'm not my brain.