So, I wrote this poem with the intention of creating a way to study. It’s a lot easier to remember terms when they rhyme so I figured it could be fun to give it a shot. I’ve never really done anything with poetry since a class in 8th grade, but couplets have always been my favorite. I really like how they make short little rhymes and they glue themselves in your head. I never would have thought that half of these words would ever fit into a poem, but if “spontaneous generation’ can flow smoothly, there’s not many words that couldn’t.
Ideally, I’d make the poem much longer and cover all the topics that we have gone over in class. I wanted something that flowed through the path of things we had learned over the semester, but I had to leave out several major topics due to the time constraint. Before presenting my poem in class, I’d like to add on to it to better cover the topics that I missed.
The poem can be read really anyway you’d like to read it. I more-or-less put the stanzas in the order that we learned about them, but I feel like each individual one could still stand out on its own. As I said before, I didn’t cover everything, I hope each little rhyme is able to stick in your head and maybe help you out on the final.
A Microbial Review
Wee animalcules, that’s the name
Controlling the world, that’s their game
Coccus, Bacillus, and in-between too
There’s not one thing microbes can’t do.
Described by Hooke in 1665,
On almost any surface they do thrive.
Leeuwenhoek saw them at 200 X
But where did they come from, these little specs?
Spontaneous generation, that’s our theory
They come from thin air? That’s just eerie.
Next came Pasteur, with his swan-necked flask
He’d prove them all wrong, he was up to the task.
Discoveries were made, but the results were ignored
Semmelweis shouldn’t have been fired, he deserved a reward.
The people realized that cleanliness was needed
Thanks to Nightingale and Lister the people conceded.
What we’ve learned so far is just the beginning
It’s like a game of baseball, but only second inning.
With advances like staining, we divide them in two
Positive or negative but purple, pink, and red in our view
The can grow and be counted using several different tools
Defined and complex media each have their own set of rules
We have plate counts, slide counts, and turbidity too
Indirect requires a direct method, but I’m sure that you knew.
Microbes can move wherever they please
Some use flagella, swimming with ease
Or maybe act like Spiderman just give it a go
You need twitching motility to be this hero
Microbes consume everything from rocks to light
Responsible for nutrient cycling with all their might
Metabolic pathways can go down any different path
Try using an electron tower, but double check your math
Forget antibiotics if you catch some of these
Viruses have their own rules and it’s your cells they seize
Whether it’s lysogenic or lytic the cycle ends the same
Your cell gets destroyed with nothing to reclaims
Antibiotic resistance is a big problem we face
Each problem solved creates an evolutionary arms race
Will the war ever end? I’m not so sure
But stay clean, be healthy and you’ll endure