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I thought Pandora explained.

If you could dissect a poem the way you investigate a fire, this one would have two origin points.

The first was my frustration with social media, which only ever seemed to amplify my cat and garden photos, and not the critical messages I was trying to send about H5N1 bird flu. (Not that I don’t enjoy both my felids and my flowers, but I really wanted everyone to know how lethal bird flu is in cats. I wanted to tell people what they can do to protect their kitties.) I felt like Cassandra.

The other was the first of what have been a series of shockwaves to science in the United States—infectious disease work in particular. One Health work to prevent spillover in particular. You know, the work that helps keep Pandora’s Box closed.

This week, there is even more grim news, cancellations of awards made by the National Endowment for the Arts. Including awards to support poetry.

What does poet-scientist do in such times?

Here is my beautiful scream, The Cassandra Effect at The Future Fire. You can download the whole issue as PDF or EPUB and enjoy the work of the other great contributors. In it, Editor Djibril al-Ayad reminds us that resistance can be beautiful.

PS—The answer to what people can do to protect their cats from bird flu is really just a few bullet points — no raw milk and no raw meat pet foods, both strongly implicated in bird flu cases in cats. Also, if H5 has been in your region in the last month, especially if you have migratory waterfowl afoot (or dairy farms or poultry), keep those cat children inside.