While the poor in America
continue to sicken, continue to die,
memories of funerals outpace
memories of births
in structurally adjusted Africa.
While viruses invade the poor
of India, Nigeria, Vietnam,
China and Indonesia,
virus skulks hunted in healthy bodies
in the countries that once ruled the South,
in the countries whose banks and manufacturers
cherry-pick desperate lands for factories, loans, or foreclosures,
seek their lifeblood profits
in the labors and veins of the poor.
The needs of investors and Presidents
draw red ink and black ink
from the wealth of our bloodstreams,
scribble “life” here,
“death” there,
profits here, losses there,
debts most everywhere,
write cutbacks, write wars.
They stifle the joys of transitions,
those festivals of the oppressed,
with structural adjustments
and good governance,
pretending to nurture
healthy futures through healthy business,
healthy lives
through breaking
hopes.
This is the way the virus spreads,
this is the way the virus spreads,
this is the way the virus spreads,
not only behavior
but their whimpering need
for profits,
evermore profits,
evermore,
until we end it.
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Friedman, S.R. How does the virus spread?. GeoJournal 77, 449 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-010-9348-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-010-9348-8