Loop Running

One take on the hard problem
Includes the suggestion that first
Your body does the thing and then

The neurosystem interprets
The action as having some emotion—
You smile or guffaw, and then,

Since you have done so, feel
Mirthful. If asked, you will
Confabulate something sensible

For why you felt that way and
It made you laugh, which, in this
View, gets the whole thing backward.

Maybe. Philosophers and scientists
Are too much in love with
The counterintuitive. Always a thrill.

But in any case, maybe also
Dreams are something the reverse
Of this—the system in dreams

Really does emote beforehand,
And then the poor, dreaming self
Is left to rummage for the stimulus,

Emotions then the weather of dreaming,
Seeming kind or ominous, detached
From the heavier scenes on the ground.