Monday, October 5, 2009: Notcot #25251

In all of the refined science
of our age,

little diseases flourish, defiant.
We gauge

each symptom, Google it with dread.
A cough

can worsen quickly, or might spread.
Swear off

every pleasurable food or drink,
and douse

your hands with Purell. You might think
your house,

your community is immune
to germs

that sound sprung from myth or cartoon,
but worms

still push their way through dogs' hearts,
and red

spots are called a pox. Our parts
are fed,

and our modernity, to bugs,
to flus.

We can only make the drugs,
the news.