Caffeine

by Derek Morrison

N.B. Read in conjunction with ‘Espresso Delivery‘
(VeloScience, 5 February 2015).

In every coffee bean
Lies a variable dose of caffeine
Which blocks your adenosine
Thus raising your catecholamine.

With adenosine you can’t tell
But it’s present in every cell
It chills things down, makes you less aroused
You feel its effects whenever you’ve drowsed.

Catecholamines are for fight or flight
But they can make you feel real uptight
Adrenaline is one, that makes you act
From every day frights we know this fact.

With caffeine our cerebral vessels constrict
But you will still feel that you have it licked
In fact you may feel deceptively fitter
It affects more than one neurotransmitter.

Time to exhaustion can improve by a large amount
Nearly 15 percent by the last count
Sprinters and weightlifters need not apply
Slow twitchers is where the advantages lie.

As potassium falls within the cell
It rises in the blood which rings the bell
That muscle fatigue has just got pending
And lest you stop it will force an ending.

But caffeine improves the cell pump
So your electrolytes don’t get the hump
Thus blood potassium it decreases
And all muscle cell activity it increases.

Heart muscle should always respond to action
But caffeine ups its force of contraction
And when it comes to your heart’s rate
Like blood pressure, caffeine can it elevate.

There’s debate about caffeine’s role with fat
Stimulating energy expenditure from that
But fat oxidation is more likely with endurance
Fast twitch muscle activity provides no such assurance.

And your need to pee may make you strained
Because sodium and water are less retained
But with time your body may adjust
So that this becomes much less of a must.

In theory caffeine could your airways dilate
So that your lungs can better inflate
But for that the dose would need to be high
And so for that effect let’s not try

So caffeine is a powerful drug
That you put daily into your coffee mug
It’s a psychoactive in a common bean
With some of the effects of amphetamine.

[To listen to this verse select below]

I’m the bridge of two rivers
The Severn and Wye
I’m seen from a distance
My two towers in the sky.
I’m the bridge of two countries
England and Wales
Offering a gateway
To many new trails.
I’m the bridge of two pathways
For feet and pedaled wheel
Most know only of one
From England right they peel.

Severn Bridge cycle path — *Old Severn Bridge, cycle and walkway*

I’m the bridge with two views
Not enjoyed from the M48
But you who can stop
Please do contemplate.

*Animated panorama from the Old Severn Bridge viewed down the estuary towards the new Severn Crossing, Severn Beach, and Avonmouth.*

Old Severn Crossing - reflection — *A moment of reflection on the old Severn Crossing viewed up the estuary towards Berkeley. The decommissioned Oldbury Nuclear Power Station is visible in the distance.*

I’m the bridge of bygone fission
Easily visible as you ride
Oldbury Nuclear Station
Lying just beneath one side.

*Oldbury Nuclear Power Station (decommissioned 2012)*

I’m the bridge of destinations
For pedalers to explore
Chepstow as a first stop
Right through Wales’ door.
I’m the bridge to border country
Wales and England you can weave
A glorious descent of Wye Valley
Comes before Brockweir heave.

*Descending the Wye Valley on the A466 towards Tintern.*

*Brockweir Bridge crossing from Wales to England near Tintern*

Brockweir Cafe — *Brockweir Village Shop & Cafe at about a third of the way up a steep long hill*

*Old Wye Bridge, Chepstow Attribution: Andy Dolman [CC-BY-SA 2.0]*

I’m the bridge of many moods
I can be sunny, calm and serene
But given my position
My fogs and winds are mean.
I’m the bridge with two gates
One in England, one in Wales
Don’t get trapped on the ‘wrong’ side
Because they can be shut in gales.

Severn Bridge automatic gate — *Old Severn Crossing automatic gate*

I’m the bridge with listed status
Whose cables were feeling pain
So now my younger sibling
Relieves me of some strain.
I’m the bridge of two bridges
The Severn and the Wye
But most think we’re one
So invisible is our tie.

*An animated panorama viewed from the Old Severn Bridge up the estuary towards the decommissioned Oldbury nuclear power station.*

[To listen to this verse select below]

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In the Hall of the Troll Kings

by Derek Morrison

Troll Kings now ride the wave
New prophets, the world to save
Deadly weapons they now wield
Vicious words seed virtual-field
Fracking anxieties and discontents
Fuelling egos, exploiting vents
Thought leaders of the virtual age
Putative masters of creating rage
Recruiters for intellectual bubbles
Silo builders for shared troubles.

So grains of sand can feel like rocks
And tiny birds pretend they’re hawks
So setting out to make their kill
While claiming it is the people’s will
Their message is, ‘destroy the nest’
For only they know know what is best
And in their silos the people hear
Because their world is full of fear.

Farage tapped the English soul
Claiming out was his only goal
Cameron fell and so left the stage
Stoking fires of increasing rage
Then Boris made his leader grab
But was felled by Gove’s Brutus stab
Arise the saviour Come What May
“Out means out” was all she’d say.

Because Ed had left his brothers’ Band
His Stone of Promises failed to stand
So Comrade Corbyn had come to pass
Minor Troll King of the working class
His disciples dug a deep deep moat
On which to launch their leaky boat
To hold a Party for times gone by
Only true believers need apply
Comrade Corbyn denied the link
He as Captain would make it sink
General Elections he may not win
But he only existed to expunge the sin
Of heretics from the New Labour sect
So comrades again command respect
Come What May had gold struck
She just could not believe her luck
How all the stars could so align
Surely this was a sacred sign.

But now, even bigger kites would fly
Enter true Grand Masters of the virtual lie.

Apprentice seducer makes Trumpet call
Roaring promises of a mighty wall
“Keep them out” became his war cry
“Push them out” meant his lesser fry
Irradiating patriotism until mutations form
So cancerous nationalism becomes the norm
And in its magnetic lies and hyperbole
Attractive solutions to set them free
Spawned post-truths that did so resonate
Bypassing any intellectual gate
Mind antibodies readied to deploy
Nascent dissonance to destroy.

Putin could so rub his hands with glee
As such Trumpet notes were his key
His virtual missiles now had the range
For targeting insecurities of global change
Anxieties and prejudices that lay beneath
Were nudged now into sharp relief
So Clinton fell and she was no more
As Trumpet blasted through the door
And so the Troll Kings to their surprise
Found they had won their mighty prize.

Meanwhile, on East Asia’s stage
An angry Troll King paced his cage
For half-brother love he had none
So he knew what must now be done
So Kim Jong-nam met sticky end
Flyers’ VX face-cream now latest trend
For projecting power and striking fear
Into non-believers in leaders dear.

And in Europe too, things look tough
As motley prophets strut and puff
Promising Utopias by going alone
As long as they ascend the throne
“Keep them out” is their war cry
“Push them out” means lesser fry
But making ‘the other’ disappear
Removes how Troll Kings focus fear
And then new villains must be found
“Enemy of the People” become Trumpet sound.

But such Troll Kings don’t exist to lead
For it’s ego furnaces that drive their need
Populist woodlands must now provide the fuel
Where such wolves feed and dribble drool
The populus however will prove fickle food
For the Troll Kings have so misunderstood
That true leaders always put others first
Discarding approbation to slake ego’s thirst.

[To listen to this verse select below]

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