Red-Blooded Americans Needed (poem) by Frank Koerner on AuthorsDen

Red-Blooded Americans Needed
by Frank Koerner → (All Poetry by Frank Koerner)
Rated "G" by the Author.

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Americans are increasingly turning to Europeans for the blood transfused in surgery, accidents and the treatment of cancer and many other diseases. In the United States, regions with surpluses have long sent blood to areas with shortages. But the demand for blood has increased to the point where such domestic shipments can no longer meet all deficits and more foreign sources are being tapped. In some cases, blood centers find it cheaper to buy voluntarily donated blood from Europe than to collect it locally. The American Red Cross is importing blood from abroad, as well.
We're importing scads of products, almost everything these days. Oil...cars...DVDs...it really does amaze. Now an issue appears that makes our national psyche go thud. We're importing life's very essence. Not oil, you know, but blood. They say our economy is in trouble; lacks direction, in confusion. To resurrect its vitality, it is said, needs a major transfusion. Of what?...is the pointed question, for if the answer is claret, We will simply come up empty. We have no surplus to stare at. We have to import that also. Our balance of payments is tangled, Our flag now flies sans the red. It is blue and star-spangled. What is the cause of this dilemma, this hemoglobin lack? How in the world did we get to this point? How do we get back? It is one matter if we import things to ease our daily lives, Another when we must import the stuff on which life thrives. The crisis that has developed would leave economists red-faced, But due to the lack of blood supply, their faces are white as paste! Can't we find a way out of this hemoglobin chasm? It can't be true that our survival is based on European plasma. Communists always think of us as the blood-suckers of the West, But they mean that only rhetorically and not as a literal test. This is a temporary problem. The solution has not been met yet. We need a positive blood supply; on its outflow?...a tourniquet set. We've helped Europe many times before. We need to make it plain. We would like them now to help us out, but in a different vein. Copyright � 2007 by Frank Koerner

Reviewed by Karen Lynn Vidra, The Texas Tornado

Reviewed on September 24, 2007

As one who has had to have four units of the red stuff last year when I was in hospital (it saved my life), I urge all who can to give a little moment of your time and donate some blood. It may save countless lives; I know..it saved mine.

(((HUGS))) and much love, your friend in Tx., Karen Lynn. :)

Very well done; bravo, Frank!

Reviewed by Karla Dorman, The StormSpinner

Reviewed on September 23, 2007

You may have saved lives today, Frank, with this call to donate the Gift of Life. My twin sister had to have four units of blood last year, it saved her life. Well done.

(((HUGS))) and love, Karla.