Systemic 'Pandemics'
We’ve had warnings before of real dangers we face,
Populations whose growth could exceed Earth’s resources! (1)
Might chemicals used to produce more (enrich some)
Be curse if we poison consumers, farmworkers, and soil
That grows crops? (2) Have men spawned a ‘disease of the soul?’
Do we honor Creation by exploiting space
We inhabit with Science (we like) that divorces
Our race from the planet, or choose to play possum
Confronted with facts we don’t like? Does a wise man embroil
By attacking the past: seek to blame or console?
Should we pray for a shill or inoculate skill,
Let ‘dead bury the dead’ or break bread with plague victims?
Does God bless the peasants when Kings guide a nation,
Make credible, progeny guarantee halcyon days,
Or suggest a con’s prison term should match his crime?
Hear ‘Heil Trump,’ “Watch me spread: a disease that can kill!
I’m pandemic with legs, with a narcissist’s symptoms,
Malfeasance by POTUS has no explanation!
Don’t look for a female or male, germ or God on my dais!
Who could dream I’d stay silent though Jesus was mime?”
Brian Johnston
28th of April in 2020
Poet’s Notes:
(1) The Population Bomb by Stanford University Professor Paul R.
Ehrlich and his wife.
(2) The Silent Spring by Rachel Carson. In 2006, Silent Spring was
named one of the 25 most impressive science books of all time by
the editors of Discover Magazine.
Copyright © Brian Johnston | Year Posted 2020
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