This Passing Fever

The time: 1918. The U.S. is both prosperous and at war. An influenza epidemic, often known by the misnomer Spanish Flu or La Grippe, is spreading throughout the world. The 1918 flu is different in that it tends to strike down otherwise-healthy adults in their prime, ages 18-40, compared to later outbreaks that target children and the elderly. The poems in This Passing Fever explore how everyday people within small-town America meet sweeping, unexpected illness with hope, fear, charity, and grief. Incorporating details both fictional and fact, including a historically-accurate jump-rope rhyme within the first poem in this collection, Rope, protagonists such as Alma Donovan-Smith depict the fears, joys, and trials of familial, personal, and community life during a time of crisis. Much like Edgar Lee Masters’ Spoon River Anthology, these poems will encourage those interested in the history of the time period and the potential of character development within poetry.