Poem: Last guinea worm for the new year

in memory of Jimmy Carter (1924-2024)

The idea is to turn the stick slowly, gentling the roundworm

onto it as it emerges, exiting from foot or leg. 

The task is to ease the metre of nematode out 

a little bit each day, to free the person from the disease.

The trick is to spool the worm on the stick 

but not turn it quickly. If it breaks, it will swell 

agonisingly; one must help the sufferer 

not to place the lesions on their limbs in the shared 

water source, thus incubating the larvae, re-cycling 

the process of infection. This is slow work, starless. 

No one will ever marvel at the minute task. Although 

an old president kept a worm in a small bottle 

in his pocket to show the length of suffering

millions of the poor have borne for centuries. 

The idea of showing the worm to strangers was to focus 

our hearts on the flesh of grief. To bring the work to light.

This is my New Year’s wish. To turn joy’s spool

with anyone, in a small way, attending

to the thread as it grows thick. To wind the ancient 

afflictions, handling ignorance with some skill, 

until relief, yours and mine, is shaped

into one inheritance; our being human.

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Dana says: ‘Jimmy Carter wanted the last guinea worm to die before he did. To date there are fourteen cases recorded; when the program to eradicate dracunculiasis began there were 3.5 million cases. If it is extinguished, it will be the second human disease since smallpox to be ended.’

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Comments

Thank you so much for this very moving, unexpected reflection.
Jennifer Barraclough

By JenniferB on 9th January 2025 - 18:44

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