The Wicked Witch and a flying monkey in the Wizard of Oz‘The Mass Mock-Shock of Monkeypox’: A Villanelle by Susan Jarvis Bryant The Society May 23, 2022 Covid-19, Culture, Poetry, Villanelle 21 Comments . The Mass Mock-Shock of Monkeypox a villanelle Shun the mass mock-shock of monkeypox— Force-fed fear declaiming death is nigh. Spurn the ceaseless bleat to lock down flocks. Snub the shaman selling shoddy shots— Shares in care for autocrats to buy. Shun the mass mock-shock of monkeypox. Ditch the regs and rules of dodgy docs (Masqueraders paid to mystify). Spurn the ceaseless bleat to lock down flocks. Think outside the safe and sterile box— Sense won’t shine in brains washed in a lie. Shun the mass mock-shock of monkeypox. Scorn the greedy yogis paid to fox (Grouchy fogies with a beady eye). Spurn the ceaseless bleat to lock down flocks. Thwart the tyrants turning back the clocks. Hit the beach and breathe the brackish sky. Shun the mass mock-shock of monkeypox. Spurn the ceaseless bleat to lock down flocks. . . Susan Jarvis Bryant has poetry published on Lighten Up Online, Snakeskin, Light, Sparks of Calliope, and Expansive Poetry Online. She also has poetry published in TRINACRIA, Beth Houston’s Extreme Formal Poems anthology, and in Openings (anthologies of poems by Open University Poets in the UK). Susan is the winner of the 2020 International SCP Poetry Competition, and has been nominated for the 2022 Pushcart Prize. NOTE TO READERS: If you enjoyed this poem or other content, please consider making a donation to the Society of Classical Poets. The Society of Classical Poets does not endorse any views expressed in individual poems or commentary. Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to print (Opens in new window)Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)Trending now: 21 Responses Brian Yapko May 23, 2022 Susan, this poem is a blast of hilarious mockery at our latest medical snake-oil show. Every repeating line, every “pox” rhyme, every “ceaseless bleat,” every scathing little alliteration is perfectly placed into a tongue-twisting indictment of politico-medical chicanery. You could not have selected a better form than the villanelle for this task. Mass hysteria is being purveyed yet again, over and over, like bioethical-violation repetends. The desperation in their handwringing refusal to let people have normal lives is as gross as the images of the monkey pox pustules they display to create panic. I love the poem and I love the exceedingly witty image that Evan selected for your post. Brava, Susan, brava! Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant May 24, 2022 Brian, your superlative comment is the inspirational source of another poem… I’m grinning as I read every delightful line. As ever, you get exactly where I’m coming from and where I intend to go with my satirical poetry… what better way to sugar the bitter red pill than a sweet sprinkling of laughter… an uplifting tonic during sick times of sheer insanity. Thank you very much indeed! Reply Mike Bryant May 23, 2022 I agree with Brian… just brilliant! Some of the pictures they have been using are from the small pox epidemic. I wonder if Monkeypox is the Current Thing yet. Everyone needs to start posting this: I’ve had my Monkeypox Jab – Have YOU? Monkey see, monkey do. Anyway, I can’t help myself. Here’s my bit of whimsy: ‘Around the Huckleberry Bush’ Fauci fancies ‘Huckleberry’ Bill Gates is ‘the Weasel’ All at once it’s Monkeypox POP! The Vax is lethal Masks are mandatory now The government is evil All at once it’s Monkeypox STOP the wicked ‘Weasel’ The ruling class is in the dough The serfs are more medieval Lock us up, then starve us out POP! Watch the upheaval Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant May 24, 2022 Mike, thank you for all your support and encouragement. I love your poem, but now I have an ear worm – I hear endless blasts of popping weasels… if only! Reply Cynthia Erlandson May 23, 2022 I love your weasel rhymes, Mike! And you’ve got that tune going through my head now, though I haven’t heard it for years. Reply Margaret Coats May 24, 2022 Susan, your inspirational force sorts words and sounds and thoughts at top speed to shape such a carefully crafted satire. My favorite bit is “Hit the beach.” We need to be in the vanguard of those who invade beaches, parks, fairgrounds, and other places for summer festivities. Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant May 24, 2022 Margaret, I love your alliterative take and thoroughly agree with you on the breaking free front… the more of our liberties stolen, the more they’ll come after until we have none left. Let’s slight them on the beaches! Thank you very much! Reply Mike Bryant May 24, 2022 Susan, after I read Margaret’s comment, I realized you’ve created a new class of poetry – ‘Classical Rap’ Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant May 24, 2022 You may be on to something there… I’ll have to practice my slam delivery. Reply Sally Cook May 24, 2022 Susan, you just said what we are all thinking ! Your recipe is runcible (as in spoon), and it’s frosting filled with a deliciously different flavor. Once again, you have hit the mark ! Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant May 24, 2022 Dame Sally, what a beautiful and lyrical observation with a delightful drizzle of Lear to make my afternoon shift at the funeral home shine. Thank you, my friend. Reply David Watt May 24, 2022 Susan, you’re always quick to come up with a forceful, yet highly entertaining response to current issues. Here is my short response to your inspirational villanelle: Pox and Stocks Meets Fox in Sox Hail the awesome monkeypox, It’s wonderful for vaccine stocks, And fills the Nordic moneybox Through tricks reminding Fox in Sox. Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant May 24, 2022 Bravo David! I love it! I think your grin-inducing title is worthy of a gift… a pox-free box of monkey chocs, perhaps. I can hear you groaning from Texas. Thank you very much for the smile. Reply Joseph S. Salemi May 24, 2022 If you want to understand the real motivation behind the “Monkeypox” manufactured hysteria, just leave the letter “k” out of its name. Reply Mike Bryant May 24, 2022 Yup, definitely a typo… Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant May 24, 2022 Absolutely spot on! Always follow the money, never the monkey! Reply Paul Freeman May 24, 2022 As always, the satire is spot on. That said: ‘Hit the beach’, but don’t share your towel! Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant May 24, 2022 Thank you very much, Paul. I’ll share my towel, but never my ice cream – especially if it’s a Cornish 99 with a flake. Reply Norma Pain May 24, 2022 Thank you Susan, for this clever, tongue-twisting poem on the Monkeypox. The Governments’ responses to anything resembling a virus/infection, etc., are becoming so predictable that surely the majority of people must be starting to realize that the making of money from vaccines and control of people, are the most obvious reasons for these ‘scare tactics’ since the vaccines are not working as promised. Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant May 24, 2022 Norma, thank you very much for your perspicacious comment. I’m confident Government, Big Pharma, and Mainstream Media fool less and less people the more they try to push their crushing global agenda down our throats 24/7. Many more need to start saying “No”… and I believe they will. Reply Mike Bryant May 28, 2022 Think You Have Monkeypox? Watch For These Ten Strange Symptoms 1) A mild headache: Run for your life! YOU’RE ALREADY DEAD! 2) You’ve been to England in the last six months: You might also be British, which is another problem altogether. 3) Italian plumbers make you FURIOUS: Throwing all those barrels is making you super buff, though. 4) You pick a bug out of your wife’s hair and eat it: Helpful but gross. Don’t do that. 5) You become confused and angry every time you see a monolith: WHAT DOES IT MEAN? 6) All of your pants are at the tailor to have a hole added for your tail: If you haven’t figured it out by now—you’re a monkey. Sad. 7) You just got back from a tour of Dr. Fauci’s Wuhan Monkeypox Lab: Duct tape is not a valid tool for air sealing a room against viral infection. 8) A tiny monkey bursts out of your chest: If you had the vaccine, the monkey would have exploded out of your body but in a slightly more mild way. 9) You insist that selectively bred bananas are evidence of creation: An atheist’s nightmare! Mic drop! 10) Zero symptoms: Better quarantine just to be safe. In the end, it doesn’t matter what your symptoms are, if you die, you’ll be recorded as a monkeypox statistic. From Babylon Bee Reply Leave a Reply Cancel ReplyYour email address will not be published.CommentName* Email* Website Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Notify me of new posts by email. Δ This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Brian Yapko May 23, 2022 Susan, this poem is a blast of hilarious mockery at our latest medical snake-oil show. Every repeating line, every “pox” rhyme, every “ceaseless bleat,” every scathing little alliteration is perfectly placed into a tongue-twisting indictment of politico-medical chicanery. You could not have selected a better form than the villanelle for this task. Mass hysteria is being purveyed yet again, over and over, like bioethical-violation repetends. The desperation in their handwringing refusal to let people have normal lives is as gross as the images of the monkey pox pustules they display to create panic. I love the poem and I love the exceedingly witty image that Evan selected for your post. Brava, Susan, brava! Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant May 24, 2022 Brian, your superlative comment is the inspirational source of another poem… I’m grinning as I read every delightful line. As ever, you get exactly where I’m coming from and where I intend to go with my satirical poetry… what better way to sugar the bitter red pill than a sweet sprinkling of laughter… an uplifting tonic during sick times of sheer insanity. Thank you very much indeed! Reply
Mike Bryant May 23, 2022 I agree with Brian… just brilliant! Some of the pictures they have been using are from the small pox epidemic. I wonder if Monkeypox is the Current Thing yet. Everyone needs to start posting this: I’ve had my Monkeypox Jab – Have YOU? Monkey see, monkey do. Anyway, I can’t help myself. Here’s my bit of whimsy: ‘Around the Huckleberry Bush’ Fauci fancies ‘Huckleberry’ Bill Gates is ‘the Weasel’ All at once it’s Monkeypox POP! The Vax is lethal Masks are mandatory now The government is evil All at once it’s Monkeypox STOP the wicked ‘Weasel’ The ruling class is in the dough The serfs are more medieval Lock us up, then starve us out POP! Watch the upheaval Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant May 24, 2022 Mike, thank you for all your support and encouragement. I love your poem, but now I have an ear worm – I hear endless blasts of popping weasels… if only! Reply
Cynthia Erlandson May 23, 2022 I love your weasel rhymes, Mike! And you’ve got that tune going through my head now, though I haven’t heard it for years. Reply
Margaret Coats May 24, 2022 Susan, your inspirational force sorts words and sounds and thoughts at top speed to shape such a carefully crafted satire. My favorite bit is “Hit the beach.” We need to be in the vanguard of those who invade beaches, parks, fairgrounds, and other places for summer festivities. Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant May 24, 2022 Margaret, I love your alliterative take and thoroughly agree with you on the breaking free front… the more of our liberties stolen, the more they’ll come after until we have none left. Let’s slight them on the beaches! Thank you very much! Reply
Mike Bryant May 24, 2022 Susan, after I read Margaret’s comment, I realized you’ve created a new class of poetry – ‘Classical Rap’ Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant May 24, 2022 You may be on to something there… I’ll have to practice my slam delivery. Reply
Sally Cook May 24, 2022 Susan, you just said what we are all thinking ! Your recipe is runcible (as in spoon), and it’s frosting filled with a deliciously different flavor. Once again, you have hit the mark ! Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant May 24, 2022 Dame Sally, what a beautiful and lyrical observation with a delightful drizzle of Lear to make my afternoon shift at the funeral home shine. Thank you, my friend. Reply
David Watt May 24, 2022 Susan, you’re always quick to come up with a forceful, yet highly entertaining response to current issues. Here is my short response to your inspirational villanelle: Pox and Stocks Meets Fox in Sox Hail the awesome monkeypox, It’s wonderful for vaccine stocks, And fills the Nordic moneybox Through tricks reminding Fox in Sox. Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant May 24, 2022 Bravo David! I love it! I think your grin-inducing title is worthy of a gift… a pox-free box of monkey chocs, perhaps. I can hear you groaning from Texas. Thank you very much for the smile. Reply
Joseph S. Salemi May 24, 2022 If you want to understand the real motivation behind the “Monkeypox” manufactured hysteria, just leave the letter “k” out of its name. Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant May 24, 2022 Absolutely spot on! Always follow the money, never the monkey! Reply
Paul Freeman May 24, 2022 As always, the satire is spot on. That said: ‘Hit the beach’, but don’t share your towel! Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant May 24, 2022 Thank you very much, Paul. I’ll share my towel, but never my ice cream – especially if it’s a Cornish 99 with a flake. Reply
Norma Pain May 24, 2022 Thank you Susan, for this clever, tongue-twisting poem on the Monkeypox. The Governments’ responses to anything resembling a virus/infection, etc., are becoming so predictable that surely the majority of people must be starting to realize that the making of money from vaccines and control of people, are the most obvious reasons for these ‘scare tactics’ since the vaccines are not working as promised. Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant May 24, 2022 Norma, thank you very much for your perspicacious comment. I’m confident Government, Big Pharma, and Mainstream Media fool less and less people the more they try to push their crushing global agenda down our throats 24/7. Many more need to start saying “No”… and I believe they will. Reply
Mike Bryant May 28, 2022 Think You Have Monkeypox? Watch For These Ten Strange Symptoms 1) A mild headache: Run for your life! YOU’RE ALREADY DEAD! 2) You’ve been to England in the last six months: You might also be British, which is another problem altogether. 3) Italian plumbers make you FURIOUS: Throwing all those barrels is making you super buff, though. 4) You pick a bug out of your wife’s hair and eat it: Helpful but gross. Don’t do that. 5) You become confused and angry every time you see a monolith: WHAT DOES IT MEAN? 6) All of your pants are at the tailor to have a hole added for your tail: If you haven’t figured it out by now—you’re a monkey. Sad. 7) You just got back from a tour of Dr. Fauci’s Wuhan Monkeypox Lab: Duct tape is not a valid tool for air sealing a room against viral infection. 8) A tiny monkey bursts out of your chest: If you had the vaccine, the monkey would have exploded out of your body but in a slightly more mild way. 9) You insist that selectively bred bananas are evidence of creation: An atheist’s nightmare! Mic drop! 10) Zero symptoms: Better quarantine just to be safe. In the end, it doesn’t matter what your symptoms are, if you die, you’ll be recorded as a monkeypox statistic. From Babylon Bee Reply
