Going Viral

Virus

In this era, of swashbuckling viruses,
Zika, HIV, influenza and Dengue,
There is yet another fighter going viral,
To where no man has ever
Been before, the throngs of eyes
That become educated of the existence
Of a life form, that shares the same prefix “Self”
As selfish, and reproduces profusely,
Showing how easy it is, to enter a nucleus,
And to make a copy of its nucleic acids,
What is enveloped by the capsid
Of skin and costume, prospering
As a contagion, of how simple and easy it is,
To proliferate through the lungs,
Of an electronic network, slipping through
Network windpipes, like
A bout of the common cold.

Published by Curiosity-driven life (Dilantha Gunawardana)

Dr Dilantha Gunawardana graduated from the University of Melbourne, as a molecular biologist, and moonlights as a poet. He currently serves as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Botany, University of Sri Jayewardenepura. Dilantha lives in a chimeric universe of science and poetry. Dilantha’s poems have been accepted for publication /published in HeartWood Literary Magazine, Canary Literary Magazine, Boston Accent, Forage, Kitaab, Eastlit, American Journal of Poetry, Zingara Poetry Review, The Wagon and Ravens Perch, among others. Dilantha too has two anthologies of poetry, 'Kite Dreams' (2016) and 'Driftwood' (2017), both brought to the readership by Sarasavi Publishers, and is working on his third poetry collection (The Many Constellations of Home). Dilantha’s pet areas of teaching and research, include, Nitrogen Fixation, RNA biology, Phytoremediation, Agricultural Biology, and Bioethics & Biosafety. Dilantha blogs at – https://meandererworld.wordpress.com/ -, where he has nearly 2000 poems. View all posts by Curiosity-driven life (Dilantha Gunawardana)