dopamine

Sometimes life feels like

a hand tally counter

of failed first dates

or a many useless encounter

Bundles and bundles of

job applications

sent submissions

ungranted permissions

Dozens, hundreds, thousands

that fall short

Taking free refills

of time and energy

Then one miraculous 

breakthrough

the battered brick wall 

An acceptance

an offer

a welcome exception

jolts the synapses

and risk-reward

…climaxes

Effort once, frustratingly futile

now

graciously worthwhile

And what was once hollow routine

through a cerebral transition

is now dopamine

Edwin Fairbrother is a writer and poet from London, UK. He turned to poetry to express his frustration with the current geopolitical landscape and certain aspects of our increasingly digitised and divided societies, as well as occasionally the sparks that give our world its magic. Inspired and influenced by poets such as Brian Bilston and Aja Monet, his poems have been published in WayWords Literary Journal, The Page Gallery Journal, The Quasar Review, Scribbled, The Raven Review, The Poetry Lighthouse, and in Enfield Poets Second Anthology. His debut collection Warheads is due for publication this November 2026 with Prolific Pulse Press.