Malaria, Poems

Praise, Title page, Copyright, Dedication, Frontispiece

PRAISE FOR MALARIA, POEMS Malaria will keep killing until we awaken the conscience of compassionate people everywhere; Conaway’s poetry pushes us toward that possibility. Malaria, Poems is an amazingly candid book. —Arun Gandhi, President, Gandhi Worldwide Education Institute A novel approach to an ancient problem, these poems powerfully weave together the scientific facts of malaria with moving glimpses into its unsettling human toll. —Sonia Shah, author of The Fever: How Malaria Has Ruled Humankind for 500,000 Years Humans have seen themselves at the top of life’s pyramid. But as Malaria, Poems reminds us, tiny species like the mosquito can control and threaten human life. This book of poems can inspire us to redirect our intelligence and creativity in order to stop the ecological destruction that has spread malaria, and to seek the collective solutions for eradicating this disease. —Vandana Shiva, recipient of the Right Livelihood Award and the Sydney Peace Prize Cameron Conaway’s Malaria, Poems is a moving and powerful feat of the empathic imagination. Poems such as “Still Born” take us into minds and lives that most of us barely or rarely think about, and the result is both shocking and inspiring. Conaway breathes new life into the idea that poetry can be as much about social justice as aesthetic pleasures and emotional insight. —Roman Krznaric, author of Empathy: A Handbook for Revolution Compassion often lies unawakened when it comes to issues of global health. Malaria, Poems awakens our compassion by bridging the distance that often exists between malaria and those of us living in Malaria-free countries as well as the imaginary distance we place between distant others and ourselves. As the line in the poem “Silence, Anopheles” reminds us: “Each other is ourselves.” —Emma Seppala, Associate Director, Stanford University’s Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education M A L A R I A P O E M S M A L A R I A P O E M S Cameron Conaway Michigan State University Press East Lansing Copyright © 2014 by Cameron Conaway The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (R 1997) (Permanence of Paper). Michigan State University Press East Lansing, Michigan 48823-5245 Printed and bound in the United States of America. 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Library of Congress Control Number: 2014936110 ISBN: 978-1-61186-144-0 (pbk.) ISBN: 978-1-60917-431-6 (ebook: pdf) ISBN: 978-1-62895-031-1 (ebook: epub) ISBN: 978-1-62896-030-3 (ebook: mobi/prc) Book design by Walton Harris Cover design by Shaun Allshouse Cover image of female anopheles mosquito is used with permission of Zwiebel Laboratory, Vanderbilt University. Michigan State University Press is a member of the Green Press Initiative and is committed to developing and encouraging ecologically responsible publishing practices. For more information about the Green Press Initiative and the use of recycled paper in book publishing, please visit www.greenpressinitiative.org. Visit Michigan State University Press at www.msupress.org ∞ For Professor Nick Day, Dr. Phaik Yeong Cheah, and the Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit This day relenting God Hath placed within my hand A wondrous thing; and God be praised. At his command, Seeking his secret deeds With tears and toiling breath, I find thy cunning seeds, O million-murdering death. I know this little thing A myriad men will save. O death, where is thy sting? Thy victory, O grave? —Sir Ronald Ross (1857–1932), on his discovery of the malaria parasite in mosquitoes, an act for which he received the 1902 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine ...