poemranker ::Headlines by Dovina

DetailsThe poem, its numbers, and the conversation.

Free verse № 133203

Headlines

by Dovina

Member since 2004 · Posted 10 Nov 2005 · 30 comments

. (In chronological order) Divine Sadist Creates Parasite Birds Carry Virus Around Globe Mutation Starts Pandemic Vaccine Runs Out Five Million Die of Bird Flu Ten Million Gather for Day of Prayer 20 Million Dead Medical Industry Blamed Bush Blamed Preacher Blamed Donald Duck Blamed God Blamed A Great Evil Allowed, Reason Mysterious Another Flu, Another War

Rate it

0 is the worst, 10 the best. Pick a number, add a comment if you like, then send it. Keys: 0–9 pick, Enter sends.

mean 5.83 weighted 5.22 rank 4287 views 298 View voting details →

6 votes so far. Yours would make 7.6 votes so far

30 comments

[7] Blindpoetry 10-Nov-05/7:01 PM Reply
Your not a part of the media are you?
This is exactly what they are saying.
"DEATH DEATH DEATH will STRIKE STRIKE STRIKE us"
[n/a] Dovina › Blindpoetry 10-Nov-05/7:05 PM Reply
I am part of the media, and I know the future. Repent of those evil words or die!
[7] Blindpoetry › Dovina 10-Nov-05/7:08 PM Reply
HELP! HELP!
I'm being repressed!
[n/a] Dovina › Blindpoetry 10-Nov-05/7:11 PM Reply
You might want to receive comfort by printing this poem and using it for a bookmark. Then you can check each one off as it occurs. Unless, of course, you become one of the 20 million.
[7] Blindpoetry › Dovina 10-Nov-05/7:17 PM Reply
Yeah, and when someone asks me where I recieved my insanity from, I can point to the bookmark's signature: "By Dovina"
[n/a] Dovina › Blindpoetry 10-Nov-05/8:30 PM Reply
Yes, and proudly, I hope. For you shall be blessed in suffering persecution in the name Truth.
[8] Bhaskaryya 10-Nov-05/7:36 PM Reply
Was this meant for a reciatel on BBC lol? Don't worry soon we are going to blame the air/water/plants,(....fill up the blank.....) everything for our pathetic plights and you'd have a lot more to write on.
[n/a] Dovina › Bhaskaryya 10-Nov-05/8:33 PM Reply
This isn't about blame. Even though I used the word five times in the poem, it's really about causes and importance.
[6] zodiac 11-Nov-05/4:07 AM Reply
Are you suggesting it's as unreasoning to blame God and Bush for virus and unpreparedness as it is to blame Donald Duck? Or merely that people are prone to blame everything, the right along with the wrong? Either way, it's dangerous talk on your part.
[6] zodiac › zodiac 11-Nov-05/4:26 AM Reply
PS-I just read your comment above. This poem isn't about blame in the same way that the sentence "Water is made of hydrogen and oxygen molecules, but you're gay" isn't about gayness. It's about water.
[6] zodiac › zodiac 11-Nov-05/4:28 AM Reply
PPS-That's why I said 'suggesting' in my original comment. The comment to respond to is the original, not this. Don't get off topic.
[n/a] ALChemy 11-Nov-05/7:25 AM Reply
What a pathetic prophecy. I'd never see these things coming.

Try something like: Dovina and Zodiac marry after she runs over his Jetta with her truck and they see each other for the first time. On their wedding night they engage in the rare cannibalerotica in which they devour each other from the toes up until there is nothing left but their heads left. The remaining few seconds of their lives are subsequently spent bickering with each other.

Now that's a fuckin' prophecy
[n/a] Dovina › ALChemy 11-Nov-05/12:29 PM Reply
Yes, it’s a pathetic prophecy, and really, it’s one of the possible outcomes. The virus mutates so rapidly that even though billions of doses of vaccine might be ready, a new mutation could wipe out millions of people before a suitable vaccine comes online. But my purpose in writing this is not to play Prophet. It’s to look at the way people think about pandemic, like the flu that came during WWI and killed more people than the war did.
[n/a] ALChemy › Dovina 12-Nov-05/5:53 AM Reply
So far the responses you've recieved are:
It's about the media.
It's about blame.
It's about prophacy.

I think you're closer to pandemonium than pandemic.

Try it from the perspective of a dog.

Dog's Diary by Fido (Ree rerse)

Day 1: I chased and killed a bird
Day 2: Wrestling with Master my bite got out of hand
Day 3: In the doghouse
Day 4: The Master has forgiven me
Day 5: The Master stays home
Day 6: The Master stays in bed
Day 7: The Master forgets to feed me
Day 8: The Master stays sleeping
Day 9: I think The Masters dead


And I know you could write it even better than I did.
[n/a] Dovina › ALChemy 12-Nov-05/12:47 PM Reply
I don't see how it relates to pandemonium or pandemic.
[n/a] ALChemy › Dovina 12-Nov-05/3:34 PM Reply
Sorry, my bad. What I meant to say is your poem is more Panda like.
[n/a] INTRANSIT › Dovina 12-Nov-05/4:13 PM Reply
I thought that too. then I read a hedline in the Milwaukee journal that suggested there is some kind of defence in saurkraut. not kidding.
[n/a] ALChemy › INTRANSIT 12-Nov-05/4:29 PM Reply
How Ironic. She mentions WWII and death by flu and a product of Germany is about to now save flu inflicted lives.
[n/a] Dovina › ALChemy 13-Nov-05/6:41 AM Reply
That's WWI.
[n/a] ALChemy › Dovina 13-Nov-05/6:49 AM Reply
What's the difference the Krauts were still there.
[n/a] INTRANSIT › ALChemy 12-Nov-05/4:11 PM Reply
one that I'd pay for, too.
[n/a] ALChemy › INTRANSIT 12-Nov-05/4:31 PM Reply
I read palms too. 5 dollars a hand.
[n/a] Dovina › INTRANSIT 13-Nov-05/6:43 AM Reply
That's the trouble with the medical industry. We will pay for remedies, but scant little for eliminatioin of disease. It goes against the profit of the industry.
[n/a] ALChemy › Dovina 13-Nov-05/6:59 AM Reply
Huh?

I think what you mean is that we're not being offered cures just narcotics and FYI the whole reason that's so is for the sake of profit.
[6] zodiac › ALChemy 13-Nov-05/7:17 AM Reply
She might be saying people will pay to cure themselves when they're sick, but not to eliminate disease altogether when it doesn't affect them. Like eliminating the "minor 5" diseases in Africa (malaria, typhoid, and I forget the rest), which kill more Africans than AIDS but would require a smaller investment to totally eliminate than what we currently spend fighting AIDS in Africa.
[n/a] ALChemy › zodiac 13-Nov-05/7:38 AM Reply
Yep. You should definately look into this as a profession.
[6] zodiac › ALChemy 14-Nov-05/3:51 AM Reply
I told you, my profession is doing something everybody thinks anybody who has any emotion can do perfectly. Ironically, by actually learning how to do it, I've totally lost my capacity for emotion.
[6] zodiac › zodiac 14-Nov-05/5:39 AM Reply
PS-

http://yitzhakcackstein.tripod.com/thedrinkingpill.doc
http://yitzhakcackstein.tripod.com/localcolour.doc
[n/a] ALChemy › zodiac 14-Nov-05/7:22 PM Reply
Those emotions aren't lost ol'boy. They're right there in black and white. More importantly they haven't been wasted.
[7] cyan9 14-Nov-05/5:44 AM Reply
Nice Concept