Today’s National Poetry Writing Month (NaPoWriMo) prompt is: Write a poem that engages with a strange and fascinating fact.
I’m in denial that today is the last day of the NaPoWriMo challenge, so maybe tomorrow I will acknowledge that fact. For now, below is my poem about viruses. It draws from the fact that “eight percent of the human genome consists of viruses.” It’s also influenced by Gerald Callahan’s essay, Chimera.
Some of our DNA
are relics of viruses
from past infections
so scientists say.
Envelope viruses like the flu,
carry lipids, protein,
and the stuff of genes,
from the hosts they travel through.
I like to think,
this means:
After years of sharing a home,
and conceivably the flu,
I’ve collected pieces of you,
stored in my chromosomes and genome.
You are not lost, you see,
You make up parts of me, literally,
saved in my “immunological memory.”
unwrithings 
A nice use and rhyme of “literally.” I also like “flu” rhymed with “pieces of you.” Nicely done.
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Thank you so much for the feedback! Much appreciated!
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Brilliantly achieves a feat : marrying science and playful love!
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Thank you! I had to do some scientific research to bust this one out haha.
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“Immunological memory” What a great concept. Love the concept of taking in pieces of each other. -Dawn
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Me too! Thank you so much for the kind words.
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Good job!
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Thank you! I am hoping to write more science-based poems. I have a few more ideas on topics.
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