One thing we
do not need is another mosquito borne tropical disease
Especially
since anyone from Central America can come across our border with ease
Worse we do
not need a virus we cannot pronounce and for a poet cannot rhyme
Chikungunya virus
has just infected a Florida man; how fast it spreads is only a matter of time
So we at least can say what it is let's call it the Virus Chik
When enters you complements of a mosquito you know you are going to be sick
No vaccine,
fever and swelling in the joints, no meds to take
Not as fatal
as dengue but still scary chills, shake and bake
We as humans
when it comes to germs and viruses may be on borrowed time
Wondering in
a shrunken flat earth when the next pandemic goes prime
Or the new
strain of med resistant staph
That destroys
all organs and muscle tissue in its path
Another reason
why our border crisis is a ticking health time bomb waiting to explode
While our
public health system swamped by new arrivals continues to erode
Scary
thought so instead of war on women or income inequality is it time to wage?
A war on
mosquitoes kicked off by canning the ban on DDT set forth in the Silent Spring
page
© July
18, 2014 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet
I can't BELIEVE someone wrote a poem about chikungunya! This makes this nasty, epic, year-and-a-half-long disease worth it. Sort of. Well done Mr Ridley.
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