I don’t like
Green eggs & ham!

Have you seen my dopamine?
It took an unauthorized vacation
somewhere around your substantia nigra—
didn’t even file the proper paperwork,
just ghosted the whole operation.

I’d check their home address,
but it’s missing from the employee file
and no one has a goddamn clue
why the dopamine just. Left.

You know
the employee everyone liked
but took for granted.
The one who showed up early,
kept everything running smooth,
made sure your hand didn’t shake
when you reached for your coffee.

And now everything’s falling apart.

Motor control is in shambles.
Balance keeps calling in sick.
Sleep schedule went rogue weeks ago.
The whole neural network’s a mess.

So how do we convince
the remaining workers to pick up the slack?
How many pep talks can we give
to neurons that are already exhausted?

Or do we smuggle in replacement dopamine
through the blood-brain barrier security checkpoint?
Those guards don’t let just anyone through—
got standards, protocols, the whole nine yards.

Hiring the levodopa temp agency
barely does the trick.
They show up, sure,
but they’re expensive,
wear off by mid-afternoon,
and half the time they bring side effects
nobody ordered.

Still better than nothing, though.
Still better than watching
the whole damn system shut down
one tremor at a time.