—After Heather Cox Richardson
Tuberculosis in Kansas, measles in Kentucky—
an innocent child dies a preventable death.
How many more? The humble flu virus
also kills. So far this year,
nineteen thousand and eighty six
have died. Each year we do our best
to guess which strains will be ascendant—
we use all our skill and knowledge and still
nineteen thousand die. What happens
now that Elon has sucked the life
out of the CDC and the FDA has abruptly
canceled a scheduled meeting
to plan for next season’s vaccine?
And what about bird flu? H5N1 has killed
tens of millions of chickens and one person.
Bird flu has raised the price of eggs
and is now infecting dairy cows.
And Elon, who fired the the federal employees
combating this disease, is now scrambling
to rehire them, and also lying about supporting
an outbreak of Ebola in Uganda, after (he says)
accidentally and very briefly cutting off funding—
yes, Uganda is across an ocean, but as 2014 showed us:
we are distant, not immune.
And now, hundreds of workers who monitor
the weather, the ocean, and warn about tsunamis
(tsunamis!) are being let go. In your name
this work is being done. In your name
the un-rich are cast adrift. In your name
and in your silence.
by Gale Naylor
Poetry by Gale 