Night Science
Day science is what they tell us we want and
what we should want for maximum productivity and
manifested potential and to be certain of all outcomes
before we even start to enhance gut biomes, clear brain
fog and grow hair exactly where we want it. As if a deck
of cards could reshuffle itself into pristine suite by suite
numeric order after years of grubby handling and
introjections from those who mark and shape us.
For years we didn’t even know we had night science.
We were told it was simply people barking like dogs
at the cars going by. What we don’t know keeps silent
company with what we say we want. Take a house key
and imprint it into a little brick of clay. That hollow of
positive and negative space defines the unknown
that drives us beyond biological instinct.
Night science says what we have been looking for
to make us whole never existed in the first place. It
says our national anthem should be replaced with the
original Hank Williams version of “I’ll Never Get Out
of This World Alive” and should be sung at every
ball game and before the start of each school day.
Zak Mucha, LCSW, is a psychoanalyst and president of the Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis. He spent seven years working as the supervisor of an Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) program, providing 24/7 services to persons suffering from severe psychosis, substance abuse issues, and homelessness. He is the author of Swimming to the Horizon: Crack, Psychosis, and Street-Corner Social Work as well as two collections of poetry.
