#ShelterinPoems

Hello April!

This first Friday of April, my Swagger friends are writing to a prompt from The American Academy of Poets, Shelter in Poems.

4/24/20

Bear with me as I introduce a poem to shelter in...

Last week, Tabatha Yeatts Lonske introduced a poem she wrote as an opposite to another poem. I thought, Wow, I've got to try that! 

And, The American Academy of Poets called for readers to find a poem from their site to shelter in. While looking around their website, I stumbled across Alice Duir Miller. 

Oh, Alice! She was a poet and a pistol in her day! I fell a little bit in love with Alice.

https://poets.org/poem/do-you-know

Alice Duir Miller was born over 100 years ago. She wrote poetry that pushed for Women's Suffrage. She pointed out inconsistencies, disingenuousness, hypocritical reasons and policies that kept women from universal suffrage. 

This poem of hers, published in 1915, is a bit prose-y. 

Do You Know

Alice Duer Miller - 1874-1942

 That in 1869 Miss Jex-Blake and four other women entered for a
        medical degree at the University of Edinburgh?

    That the president of the College of Physicians refused to give
        the women the prizes they had won?

    That the undergraduates insulted any professor who allowed
        women to compete for prizes?

    That the women were stoned in the streets, and finally excluded
            from the medical school? (Please read the rest of the poem here. It will make sense later if you do)

However, Do You Know, works as a perfect foil for my response  poem of opposite. I hope you find shelter in it. 

What We Know
By Linda Mitchell in response to Alice Duir Miller

That in March 2020, Dr. Kizzmekia S. Corbett, an African American woman
    leads Dr. Barney Graham’s Seattle  coronavirus vaccine team. 

That her  journey began with a Bachelor of Sciences in Biology and
      a second major in Sociology from the University of Maryland.

That Dr. Corbett spent a post-baccalaureate year training at the National
      Institute of Health researching, practicing, honing skills.

That she then enrolled in the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
      earning  a Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology.

That her Ph.D. garnered  awards for distinction, induction into
      the Frank Porter Graham Honor Society and a  fellowship to develop vaccines in Sri Lanka.

That dissecting human antibody responses to virus infection
      is this woman’s, this African American’s, this doctor’s  jam.

That Dr. Corbett’s mission is to block spike proteins from binding to
cells to prevent Covid-19...the science she’s leading  for our National
Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease team to fight our nightmare.

That according to a recent Black Enterprise dispatch, hospitals
since the outbreak of this pandemic, have called women to the front lines
of obliterating  the curve of COVID-19. We  know Dr. Corbett’s got this.

https://newsone.com/3919081/kizzmekia-corbett-covid-19-cure/https://newsone.com/3919081/kizzmekia-corbett-covid-19-cure/

See more #ShelterinPoems from my fellow SWAGGERS

Catherine Flynn
Molly Hogan
Margaret Simon
and, Heidi Mordhorst who is hosting today's Poetry Friday Round-Up. Thanks so much, Heidi!

Sources:
Givens, Dana. “Meet The Black Woman Taking the Lead to Develop a Vaccine For COVID-19.” Black Enterprise, Black Enterprise, 26 Mar. 2020, www.blackenterprise.com/meet-the-black-woman-taking-the-lead-to-develop-a-vaccine-for-covid-19/.

“Kizzmekia S. Corbett PhD.” Keystone Symposia, Keystone Symposia & Digitell, 2020, virtual.keystonesymposia.org/ks/speakers/view/946. Keystone Symposia on Molecular and Cellular Biology is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with more than a 40-year history of convening open, peer-reviewed conferences that connect the scientific community and accelerate life science discovery.