GOING VIRAL

RNA transcribes
DNA to make blueprints
informing protein.
This step includes proof-reading
to fix or block mutations.

"RNA virus"
means one with no DNA,
only RNA
transcribing itself proof-free,
changing its story often.

It does much good, true.
But in my mind its whispers
turn reinforcements
to three-and-fourpence still -- spin
endlessly, maintain the war.

This was written in July 2020 and published online by Lifeology. It was an entry in their competition, which had been flagged up to me by Clare.

Searching for a subject, I came across a story in the local paper, which contained the paragraph:

"The virus is what is known as an RNA virus, which means it is prone to errors every time it replicates.  This means that reading -- or sequencing -- the virus's genetic code can provide valuable information on its biology and transmission." (Zayed 2020)

Clare's additional explanation of that process, with not too much fanciful moralising from me, powered a sequence of three tankas (a trademark form of mine). The third tanka draws on the apocryphal story, first found circa 1914, of the chain of military miscommunication that altered "Send reinforcements, I am going to advance" into "Send three and fourpence, I am going to a dance". When I was a kid in the 1960s, that modification was still given as an example of what the game 'Chinese whispers' ('Telephone' across the pond) was about, but the UK's decimalisation of its currency has since rendered the story even more obsolete. What pair of phrases do people use to illustrate the game now?

I forget how I lost sight of the poem, but having come across it again, I might as well add it to my blog of published work..

Zayed, A. 'Pinpointing virus ancestry helps hospital tackle Covid.' Cambridge news, 16 July 2020, p.7.