Poem during the Plague: Poem 33

Joy Martin

Southern-born, Joy makes her home in the Boston area, with memberships in the Newton Poetry Group and the Poetry Society of Virginia. Her poems explore the many facets of life, including her and broader humanity’s place and challenges within it.

A Recombinant Tale

Horseshoe bat meets

scaly anteater

pangolin.

Scanning electron microscope

shows yellows

emerge amidst

pinks and blues.

Surface proteins

mutate, roam until

human host found

then escalate

to pandemic form

leaving calling-card

antibodies in you.

Tale’s origin?

Location unknown.