‘No Such Thing as a Free Donut’ – a poem

Check me out, I’m living the dream!
I got free donuts from Krispy Kreme.
All I had to do was get my vaccination;
I needed it anyway, to go on vacation.
Besides, that’s the way things are headed:
No entry to pubs, clubs, shops, any place,
Without the ‘passport’ libertarians dreaded,
‘Show us your papers’ and cover your face.
So happy the government have all my data!
I don’t care for privacy, ethics or choice,
Enjoy my false freedom, pay for it later;
To the self-righteous herd, I’ll add my voice.
Control my life, take my independence away.
Discriminate against the unvaccinated ‘other’.
There’s only one more thing I have to say:
I love free donuts and I love Big Brother.

I was inspired to write this poem after hearing that Krispy Kreme stores in the US were offering free donuts to people who could prove they’d had a covid vaccination. I thought it was an interesting starting point for a commentary on the ‘vaccine passport’ vs. civil liberties debate. This is not a poem criticising people who eat donuts.

If you liked my poem, you may wish to check these out: ‘Risk’ and ‘Dystopia 2020’.

20 thoughts on “‘No Such Thing as a Free Donut’ – a poem”

    1. Thank you 😀 I found out because it was on Twitter. I’m sure there are other places offering incentives but donuts catch people’s attention!

  1. This made me laugh, especially since you have said that you don’t love donuts yourself 🙂
    I expect we’ll have similar controversy in Australia when the vaccine is rolled out here too (rolled out, did you like that?) The anti-vaxxers here are quite noisy, but I expect the Australian government will put financial and social pressure on those who choose not to vaccinate (limited government financial aid, no access to childcare unless vaccinated etc).

    1. It’s not really the calories I’m most concerned about, it doesn’t seem right to be giving incentives like that.

      1. Look, we need as many people to take the vaccine as possible, so anything that gets that shot in their arm is worth it, if you ask me.

  2. This is brilliant! The irony that to supposedly make people healthier we give the free unhealthy donuts 🤦🏻‍♀️. It’s scary that so many people are happy to buy into such incentives without seeing the bigger picture.

    1. Thank you 🙂 I think incentives like this are the tip of the iceberg though – what is more concerning is the prospect of people being compelled to have the vaccine and not being given a choice.

      1. I completely agree, forcing people to take it rather than it being voluntary is something that worries me too. And it’s also worrying how so many people seem to be happy with that scenario. The Nuremberg Code after world war two was there for a reason, people should never be forced to take anything that they don’t want. What’s more many people have legitimate reasons for not wanting it which go beyond just choice like allergic reactions. The governments of the world certainly are all seeming to turn dystopian these days. Can only hope something happens to turn around the trend, it’s actually really scary to see things we’ve read in books like Nineteen-Eighty-Four seeing to come true! 😮 :/

        1. Yes – I think it is a separate issue, having information about everyone’s health status and using it for some kind of ID, essentially, preventing people without it from living free lives. Everyone should have a choice on whether to have the vaccine or not, no one should have services denied because of it, and absolutely no one should have these ‘passports’ at least domestically.

          1. So good to hear from someone who doesn’t want them. Among so many people on twitter there are people who don’t seem bothered or even want to have these vaccine passports. People need to start reading dystopian nvels like 1984!

    1. Thanks! I didn’t even lose any subscribers like I usually do with poems 🙂

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