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Volume 8, Number 2—February 2002
Another Dimension

Dread-Bound News

Author affiliation: Atlanta, Georgia

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It is difficult

to get the news from poems

yet men die miserably every day

for lack

of what is found there.

“Asphodel, That Greeny Flower” by William Carlos Williams, a physician and poet

We cower under stars and stripes
While horrors unfold and threaten the future
Armies, governments, news hounds
Chase their tails and the tales of violence,
But the crucial culprit, collective fear,
Pervades our lives.
Fear that infectious disease of humans,
With strains varied as the common cold,
Has no vaccine or cure and lurks disguised,
Evades diagnosis.
In fear we cannot, must not hide
From the public info-network
That slams us with a headline epidemic
Prompting us to wade in the bay of panic.
The enemy’s friend and foe,
It gives voice to the great unknown,
Paints faces on the monster
Who hides under our beds.
United, we wait for disaster
Fearing to suck our thumbs,
Lest mama's apron strings be dusted with anthrax.
A germ becomes a giant!

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Cite This Article

DOI: 10.3201/eid0802.ad0802

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Table of Contents – Volume 8, Number 2—February 2002

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Page created: April 18, 2012
Page updated: April 18, 2012
Page reviewed: April 18, 2012
The conclusions, findings, and opinions expressed by authors contributing to this journal do not necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Public Health Service, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or the authors' affiliated institutions. Use of trade names is for identification only and does not imply endorsement by any of the groups named above.
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