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Katy Giebenhain
Epidemiology at 5 p.m.
Bewitched
by the lemon rind spiraling
my neighbor’s rocks glass
I think of scurvy.
I toast the trick of citrus
and each sailor
too late to receive it.
I sip respecting
that early clinical trial,
Dr. Lind on the high seas
and all who stop misery
through observation,
all who labor out-of-sight.
In class we learn
epi demos logos
the study of what befalls
a population,
a cocktail of Greek words.
We learn that when
public health is working
we don’t notice it.
I toast those who do.