AN EPIC PANDEMIC So the epidemic has become a pandemic. Confused? Let us nitpick here a little, backed up by hefty dictionary definitions. An epidemic technically means a prevalent disease with many people ill. . A pandemic refers to ‘pan’: ‘all the peopl

AN EPIC PANDEMIC

So the epidemic has become
a pandemic. Confused?
Let us nitpick here a little,
backed up by hefty
dictionary definitions.

An epidemic technically means
a prevalent disease
with many people ill.
.
A pandemic refers
to ‘pan’: ‘all the people’ when
a disease affects many people
over wider areas, they say.

If we take out the ‘dem’
(from the Greek root ‘demos’–people)
–from either ‘epidemic’ or ‘pandemic’
then what do we left?
Drum roll…an epic panic.

Beware dem people:
panic breeds fear, and fear
hostility, anger, hate.

No. Leave dem people in
our calculations,
our talk of flattening curves.

The young dem seize the day,
as young people always will.
Older dems are gripped by the knowledge
that the number of their days diminishes
or worse, feel irrelevant and useless.
Angry dems seek scapegoats,
charitable dems give in many ways,
sociable dems feel bereft of contact,
withdrawn dems curl alone like snails.

The sun still rises.
The planets still revolve.
Seeds sprout, ants bite, and all
the while a smile can come
unexpectedly
from old, from young, from
any-demi-one.