Test Drive with a Bio-hacker

Julian Bishop

Imagine engineering the wheels
out of a car, removing the thrust,
ability to brake - to liberate
the body from oily dependence

on love; I fine-tune my engine 
performance with additives, 
attain a maximum velocity 
of seventy a day. The sleek finish

comes from hormone top-ups, 
an oestrogen blocker added 
for extra horsepower, steroids,
precautionary antidepressants.

While the ignition is off, a smart
Oura ring tracks every twitch.
I calibrate thermal efficiency 
by implants under a bonnet 

of subcutaneous fat. Ketagenic 
technology gives me fuel economy, 
juice injected just once a day; 
three times a week I run on empty.

Love is just a layby on the journey 
to immortality, my heart needs 
no kiss to tick over. What drives me 
is knowing nothing inside will ever break.

The Science

‘Extreme biohacking: the tech guru who spent $250,000 trying to live for ever’ – It was this headline that caught my eye: Serge Faguet claimed by “bio-hacking” his own body he had made himself more intelligent and increased his sex drive. Faguet takes pills for anti-aging and the regulation of hormone levels. Gadgets monitor his blood sugar and sleeping patterns. A quote from him, ‘it’s better not to be bothered by emotions’, led me to imagine what it must be like to live in a perfect body - possibly forever - but to never fall in love (except perhaps with yourself).

The Poet

Julian Bishop is a former television journalist living in North London who is a member of the collective group Poets For The Planet. A former runner-up in the Ginkgo Prize for Eco Poetry, he’s one of four prize-winning poets featured in a 2020 pamphlet called Poems For The Planet.  He’s also been shortlisted for the Bridport Poetry Prize and recently had a selection of poems published by Irisi. Contact Julian via Twitter @julianbpoet.

Next poem: The Capacity of Greed by Teena Carroll