{"id":1675,"date":"2014-10-21T11:03:13","date_gmt":"2014-10-21T16:03:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/?p=1675"},"modified":"2014-10-21T11:08:51","modified_gmt":"2014-10-21T16:08:51","slug":"poem-ebola-us-over","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/2014\/10\/21\/poem-ebola-us-over\/","title":{"rendered":"POEM: Ebola US Over"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ebola US over<\/strong>
\nWhen fear metes science<\/strong>
\nWhen we no what too due<\/strong>
\nStill, rabidly executing our will<\/strong>
\nAs wee act in sanity<\/strong>
\nCheap as rationed rationality<\/strong>
\nUpscale absurdity<\/strong>
\nAs some fret butler<\/strong>
\nFrankly red-faced, not giving a damn<\/strong>
\nAs long as they are on the winning genocide<\/strong>
\nAs good as dread<\/strong>
\nOnly wont<\/strong>
\nToo feel safe<\/strong>
\nFeverishly incubating terrors<\/strong>
\nIn the timed, spaced continuum<\/strong>
\nOf the perpetual see of terminable daze<\/strong>
\nEnduring weaks<\/strong>
\nOf what dismay<\/strong>
\nOr may knot<\/strong>
\nDeliver us<\/strong>
\nInto harm’s weigh<\/strong>
\nStamping out indignantly<\/strong>
\nAversion of reality<\/strong>
\nWe cannot except<\/strong>
\nFomenting in a culture<\/strong>
\nFixed on negative results<\/strong>
\nMirrorly symptoms apprehended<\/strong>
\nTemperatures rising<\/strong>
\nGoing viral<\/strong>
\nAs the unexplained hemorrhages<\/strong>
\nEverything alarmingly scene<\/strong>
\nAs through<\/strong>
\nA prism of fear<\/strong>
\nFor which there is no anti-dote<\/strong>
\nForever catching<\/strong>
\nUS on the flip side<\/strong>
\nLittle escaping what is in<\/strong>
\nOur nature<\/strong>
\nPassing<\/strong>
\nOn that sore option<\/strong>
\nLiquefying our cells<\/strong>
\nOr seizing only<\/strong>
\nThat which is key<\/strong>
\nTo the beginning of our end<\/strong>
\nIn courage unbolting<\/strong>
\nAnd open fortitude<\/strong>
\nThat other wise will<\/strong>
\nTo our enemies heel<\/strong>
\nYet for all won knows<\/strong>
\nBolus over with a feather<\/strong>
\nJoining farces with that gag reel<\/strong>
\nFore what bitter medicine than that<\/strong>
\nGiven the bird<\/strong>
\nThat can’t swallow<\/strong>
\nOr a flee<\/strong>
\nIn deed doggedly drug<\/strong>
\nA collar<\/strong>
\nNot worthy a copper or gumshoe<\/strong>
\nSo give it a rest<\/strong><\/p>\n

I wrote this poem a while back, just after the first Ebola case showed up in the United States.\u00a0 I have training and experience in public health, and I worked in the 1990’s in combating the HIV\/AIDS epidemic.\u00a0 Communicating risk accurately is difficult, particularly in an environment of fear and histrionics. Also, it doesn’t help that the scientific literacy level of the American public is disabling in this matter.\u00a0 As a scientist and poet, I hope that this poem offers some insight into such conundrums.<\/p>\n

Fear and ignorance are a lethal combination, and they have a nefarious synergy with infectious disease outbreaks.\u00a0 Ignorance often leads to a dangerous undervaluing of prevention early in an epidemic.\u00a0 Then, when the epidemic becomes visible, closer to home, fear often demands actions that are often useless or counterproductive.\u00a0 If confusion prevails amidst a population, infectious disease can flourish, as energies are squandered on off-mark enterprises and scientifically-validated methods are not sufficiently adhered to, often because of ignorance and suspicion, even if plenty of fear and concern is present as a motivator.<\/p>\n

The Ebola virus is particularly lethal, yet it is not easily transmissible nor transmissible in people without easily-identified symptoms (though not necessarily Ebola-specific symptoms).\u00a0 The chains of Ebola transmission can be broken.\u00a0 We need to persistently apply our abundant knowledge about Ebola, with a measure of courage, to defeat it.\u00a0 If our unfounded fears overwhelm our capacity to address Ebola in a rational manner, then the legitimate fear that Ebola poses us will become unnecessarily magnified into a self-fulfilling prophecy.<\/p>\n

May we drum up the courage and resolve to fight Ebola based on what we know well rather than that which is uncertain and subject to fear-mongering.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ebola US over When fear metes science When we no what too due Still, rabidly executing our will As wee act in sanity Cheap as rationed rationality Upscale absurdity As some fret butler Frankly red-faced, not giving a damn As … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,15],"tags":[274,563,335,198,516,476,104,481,428,462,388,586,379,658,291,94,491,468,43,601,260,390,504],"class_list":["post-1675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poems","category-political-and-philosophical-musings","tag-absurdity","tag-america","tag-conundrum","tag-courage","tag-culture","tag-disease","tag-enemies","tag-environment","tag-experience","tag-fear","tag-hope","tag-literacy","tag-nature","tag-poems","tag-poet","tag-poetry","tag-present","tag-prevention","tag-public-health","tag-reality","tag-risk","tag-science","tag-self-fulfilling-prophecy"],"yoast_head":"\nPOEM: Ebola US Over | Poems, Political and Philosophical Musings | Top Pun's Poetry, Funny Puns, Free Posters, Public Health Radio Show! 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