Intimidation, heavy like the humidity-laden air
Thrives, just below the summer-cracked red clay
Where fields may be fallow above – scratch a little
And from the jagged earthy scab
Crawls the insidious – the relentless virus
Most viruses will die in heat, not so for this
Heat is its fertility, its virility – its future
Like the heat, the virus bashes and destroys
What might be weaker, or different than itself
The virus’ deepest desire is domination –
So much so, that it will transform – it will hide
In plain sight
It will morph to fool, it will invoke the name of Jesus
Hostility becomes a friend, snaking its way like the moccasin
Quietly its venom, finds the watery pulse
Until the grave is in open-view – its flag flown proudly
Leaving no immunity; the altar laid to waste.
Three times. Do you love me?

Author's note: This poem was written in response to events
brewing in Virginia's heartland, just two months before
devastating events in Charlottesville 2017. 

Hanover (VA) Tomato Festival, 2017