A Stroke of Good Bad News
…might involve Reverse Robin Hood Syndrome
Robin Hood
took from the rich
and gave
to the poor.
Medical science
used Mr. Hood’s work
to describe
a devastating situation.
Reverse Robin Hood Syndrome
causes brain deterioration
and perhaps some strokes
of good bad news.
Blood in an artery
is stolen from the
ischemic brain area
by non-ischemic brain parts.
American society in 2025
needs Mr. Hood
and his two syndromes:
ischemic and politic.
NOTE: There are two kinds of mathematics here: a stroke in the brain and a stroke of what I’ve been calling “good bad news.” It pains me to think about it, and it pains me even more to write about it. I’ve been comparing the words “strike” and “stroke” too much. With every “strike” against democracy and “the will of the people” versus “the will of the autocrat,” the idea of a physical stroke and its ramifications might give people something to hold onto in terms of this question: “How may bad news for one be good news for healing the collective US?” The “two party” system seems to be taking place in a country where the parents aren’t home, where the party people are taking advantage and wreaking havoc, and there will be hell to pay, wounds to bandage, furniture to repair, costs to cover, suits to litigate, and memories to suffer forever. And this is all to say that writing and reading poetry is losing its ability to ease my mind in these troubled times.
