With all our advances in knowledge and science we continue to struggle with increases in illnesses and
disease. We are comfortable with talking about the rising rate of chronic diseases like diabetes but we
still whisper about sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Rather than sharing data on STDs it may be
more effective to focus on the “whisper”, or in other words how we fail to communicate even on a
personal level on these issues and how this leads to the continued and rising number of cases. If
numbers don’t work maybe poetry might. I have found an excellent opportunity to do so through the
poetry of a local health department employee in Florida.
STD Awareness Day Poetry
by Carlina J. Moreland
I gave up my power
I lost my voice
When I didn’t insist on condoms
And gave you the choice
I don’t want gonorrhea
The pain and the burn
I should have used condoms
A lesson I learned
I gave up my power
I lost my voice
When I didn’t insist on condoms
And gave you the choice
You told me not to worry
That you were clean
But as I sit here now
Those words don’t mean a thing
I gave up my power
I lost my voice
When I didn’t insist on condoms
And gave you the choice
My friends don’t use condoms
Or so I believed
But statistics show if I say I use them
My friends would follow me
So,
I’m taking back my power
I’m using my voice
To say condoms still work
And using them is my choice