My Mother's Psychedelic Brain

On the day of my mother’s 99th birthday
Her stroke addled brain offered her the
Gift of New Life

Half blind and mostly deaf
Human senses only partially at work
My mother entered a cathedral of
Hope and rebirth on her birthday

Having grieved the loss of her
Practical, organized personality
Highly functional human self
Her family and friend relationships
Her brain came alive again
A little differently

Released from her church lady
Prim and Proper ways
She was primed to experience
Her true God, her transformation
Seeing me, she mentioned the
Wedding she had attended
(“Not real,” my brain thought)
A reception too, and she was tired

“I married a tall young man
Named Jim, have you met him?”
She wondered aloud
I rejoiced in her newfound love
At 99, finding a divine husband!

Having never used psychedelic medicines
Her brain and the Spirits around her
Blessed her with neuroplasticity
The creation of new neuronal pathways

The beauty of transcendence
A new promise, a new life
A gift from her god
After all, isn’t Jim just another name
For God?

Does it matter?