There was once a driver
Infected with yellow fever
Who passed it on to his woman
And she to the barman
And they all came down with a fever
Millions walking around in masks who,
Hide their faces in fear.
But answering the call are those heroes,
Who risk their lives to save,
Others everyday.
Some do not heed the warning and,
Lie to regret it.
Families mourn their loved ones,
Not understanding.
We've seen this before,
Yellow fever, the black plague
And polio the diseases of mankind.
The healers looking searching for,
The answer to save the world.
One day in the future the answer,
Will come.
This is the curse of Covid.
Those dirty little mosquitoes cause many a virus
Malaria, west nile, yellow fever and elephantiasis
Don't mean to make light
At the last one, I looked twice
Parts of my body could benefit from enlarging twice
The yellow FEVER spared not EITHER woman, child or MAN
New Orleans’ DREAD was the many DEAD to bury on the LAND.
Suffering UNDER a disease of WONDER they couldn’t UNDERSTAND,
in 1852 they never KNEW the mosquito had a HAND.
The yellow FEVER spared not EITHER black, white, rich or POOR.
You feared the MARK of “Y” so DARK, if painted on the DOOR.
Some felt the DANK of swamp so RANK had caused cases to SOAR
not to KNOW the MOSQUITO was making much the GORE.
The yellow FEVER spared not EITHER young or pretty FACE.
When you took SICK, they moved you QUICK away to the Leper PLACE.
Lazaret Island was WHERE those full of DESPAIR became a hopeless CASE.
It was THERE that time and tide would WEAR, human beings to WASTE.
They had to SURVIVE to 1905 when the last epidemic OCCURRED.
By then they KNEW the mosquito was CLUE and cleanliness, was the WORD.
They took off the MASKS and boldly ASKED, “What practices are ABSURD?”
Mosquitoes to BLAME Max Theiler got FAME when a new vaccine was HEARD.
11/17/2020
In Rhymes Sublime Poetry Contest
Sponsor: Joseph May
Those dirty little mosquitoes cause many a virus
Malaria, west nile, yellow fever, and elephantiasis
Don't mean to make light
At the last one, I looked twice
Parts of my body could benefit from enlarging twice
Those dirty little mosquitoes cause many a virus
Malaria, west nile, yellow fever and elephantiasis
Don't mean to make light
At the last one, I looked twice
Parts of my body could benefit from enlarging twice
scarlet streaked with yellow
I lean in to inhale her scent
I reach out to feel her touch
she pricks me
and I bleed
bleed her yellow fever
bleed her scarlet fever
she needs me to bleed
so gladly I bleed
scarlet streaked with yellow...
she grows
she flourishes
in my garden of pain
and delight...
Dedicated to 'The Rose of Texas' - Irma Linda (PD)
Scarlet streaked with yellow
I lean to breathe in her scent
I reach out to feel her touch
she pricks me
and I bleed…
bleed her scarlet fever
bleed her yellow fever
she needs me to bleed
I need her to need me to bleed
so gladly I bleed
scarlet streaked with yellow...
Wild like the rose, I must have
vicious when in bane
Swallow the aroma... Passion
acknowledge the tropical beauty
enjoy the inspirational tease
bondage and bandages of needing,
aroused by the pain
aroused by the danger
Inviting... Touch my wilderness
I stick, you bleed
stroke, with fever, chills
viral & unexpected, "I am The American Plague"
Wild like the rose, you must have
This poem is a collaboration by Tim Ryerson and Linda (PD)
Submitted for: 'The Heart of Seduction contest sponsored by Justin Bordner
scarlet streaked with yellow
I lean to breathe in her scent
I reach out to feel her touch
she pricks me
and I bleed...
bleed her scarlet fever
bleed her yellow fever
she needs me to bleed
so gladly I bleed
scarlet streaked with yellow
black snakeroot, yew, cocklebur, poison (ivy, oak, parsnip, sumac, ryegrass, hemlock), blister bushes, daffodil, mayapple, lilium, jerusalem cherry, indian licorice, deadly nightshade, christmas rose, bleeding heart, asparagus berries, wolfsbane, tomato leaves, doll’s eyes, the suicide tree, young larkspur, blue-green algae, stinkweed, dumbcane, european spindle, blind-your-eye mangrove, manchineel, laburnum, mother of millions, elderberry root, bacterial pathogens, exotoxins, mycotoxins, grayanotoxins, rhinovirus, chicken pox, sleeping sickness, cholera, yellow fever, typhoid, rotavirus, river blindness, measles, japanese encephalitis, hepatitis (a,b & c), cryptosporidiosis, shigella infection, pneumonia, meningitis, tuberculosis, schistosomiasis, malaria, influenza, herpes (1 & 2), crab louse, scabies, chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, chancroid, trichomoniasis, hpv, hiv/aids, ebola virus, marburg virus, mad cow disease, mudslides, avalanches, blizzards, storms, cyclones, hurricanes, tsunamis, tornadoes, earthquakes, floods, fires, supervolcanic eruptions: evidence of absence.
horrific, decades-long
study syphilis, study its effects
covert medical testing
army scientist
bitten by mosquitoes,
yellow fever
mustard gas,
enter chambers
temporarily blind
dark age
hospital patients
injected with plutonium,
atomic soldiers
in the waves
of nuclear explosions
trace amounts of radiation,
in breakfast cereal
of handicapped children
new drug, LSD
dropped over a French town,
unsuspected, hallucinations
with the latest discovery,
reports of dark practices
soon to follow.