Based on original reporting from West Africa and the United States, and
the poet's experiences as a doctor and journalist, If God Is A Virus
charts the course of the largest and deadliest Ebola epidemic in
history, telling the stories of Ebola survivors, outbreak responders,
journalists and the virus itself. Documentary poems explore which human
lives are valued, how editorial decisions are weighed, what role the aid
industrial complex plays in crises, and how medical myths and rumor can
travel faster than microbes.
These poems also give voice to the virus. Eight percent of the human
genome is inherited from viruses and the human placenta would not exist
without a gene descended from a virus. If God Is A Virus reimagines
viruses as givers of life and even authors of a viral-human self-help
book.