An Epidemic of Fear — a found poem
(a found* poem from a New York Times article on global pandemics)
An epidemic of fear,
A terrifying disease often fatal.
People had died
On the street and on the wards.
When a man arrived from another country,
They were terrified.
Having the wrong skin color is enough
To find them shuffling away from you.
The side-eye from passengers on the train,
No one wanted to go near him.
We are not prepared to fight fear
As actively as we fight any other virus.
Fear can harm people in places
That never see a single case of infection.
Fear can have worse consequences
During an outbreak of issues of race and privilege.
*A found poem: a type of poetry created by taking words, phrases, and sometimes whole passages from other sources and reframing them as poetry by making changes in spacing and lines, or by adding or deleting text, thus imparting new meaning. (Source: Wikipedia)
