Epidemic

I’ve been inspired to participate in Rattle‘s “Poets Respond” , in which poets write about a recent news item, and  I decided that the poems that don’t get selected will be published here with a link to the news story that inspired them.  “Epidemic” was a response to an NPR piece about the stigma Thomas Eric Duncan’s neighborhood has now faced.  There were rumors of customers being denied entry to places for because they looked African.  Even if these stories were not true, racism is that global plague that can no longer be ignored.

Epidemic

There is an epidemic
That sends no one in a panic.
The WHO cannot do anything,
Yet it rarely makes headlines
And when it does,
Sources are disputed:
“This is opinion,
Not scientific fact.”
The disease is highly contagious,
And while studies have shown
That it is not heritable,
Transmission from parent to child
Is highly probable.
The disease mutates quickly
And attacks the heart.
Actually it corrupts the insides
Despite no visible symptom
On the exterior,
Save for bursts of violence.
We think it originated in Europe,
But it’s spread
To every corner of civilization.
It cannot be contained
Even though the infected
Quarantine themselves—
It’s the delusions
Making them think
The Other is infected.
This is a deadly disease
That has claimed many lives,
Yet governments make no laws
And many look away
At another epidemic,
Perhaps not knowing
They have become ill.