Black death blood and guts
Fleas on rats as big as cats
Summer death follows.
Alison Jean Hankinson
This is for d’Verse poetics we were asked to write a poem that was related to a sign or symbol and this came from my Year 7 teaching today, where the red cross on the door of a house meant the occupants had the plague and the cries on the street were “Bring out yer dead”.
The image is from Wikimedia.
The file from Wellcome images-
A rat stowing away on a ship, carrying the plague further afield. Drawing by A.L. Tarter, 194-.
Iconographic Collections
Keywords: Albert Lloyd Tarter
Hues of Hankinson 