The words we need have been erased,
Vulnerable to the government
And deniers of the evidence-based.
Our language, choices, science-based,
Scorned by the fetus president—
The words we need have been erased.
Diversity ordered into caste.
Erasures are no accident
By deniers of the evidence-based.
Transgender briefly undisgraced
Saying, knowing, meaning, meant—
The words we need won’t be erased.
As if our selves could be displaced
By godly smug entitlement
Of deniers of the evidence-based.
Remember: the experiment
Depends on steady dissidents.
The words we need won’t be erased
By deniers of the evidence-based.
As a former government documents librarian, Julie Linden has seen her fair share of CDC reports.
Inspiration: The original submission guidelines’ encouragement of “repetition” inspired the villanelle form.
The CDC Poetry Project 