In the absence of cures

Abigail Flint

In the absence of cures
we turn to charms
vials of cleansing elixir
veils to cover our mouths

We practice a collective
magickal geometry
of distance
the ritual washing of hands

We speak spells and benedictions
to one another
across streets
across continents

We attend to daily numerologies
tallies and charts
awaiting equilibrium

We trust in art and lore
the extraordinary alchemy
of medicine

Some petition their gods
to allow us to endure

These almost beings
forged of fragments
of our ancestors
or something primal
older than the gods themselves

At night, I dream of a contract
a bargaining of lives
in a shared forgotten tongue

I place a petri-dish
between grandmother stones
crowned with a wreath of sage

The Science

The poem reflects on the ways that people respond to disease, and the desire for control in uncertainty. It makes connections across time with disease avoidance behaviours people employed before modern medical understandings of epidemiology. In my research to write this poem I discovered that there are diverse theories on the evolutionary history of viruses, their evolutionary connections (or not) with their hosts, and where they might sit in the tree of life.

The Poet

Abigail Flint is an archaeological researcher and poet living in South Yorkshire. Her poems have been published in Route 57, two anthologies, and an academic book on student-staff partnership in Higher Education. Her poem ‘Coasting’ was awarded second place in the 2019 East Riding Festival of Words and Philip Larkin Society Poetry Prize.

Next poem: Lepton by Philip Berry