“Happiness Epidemic” by David Hernandez Without any warning, the disease sweeps across the country like a traveling circus. People who were once blue, who slouched from carrying a bag of misery over one shoulder are now clinically cheerful. Symptoms include kind gestures, a bouncy stride, a smile bigger than a slice of cantaloupe. You pray that you will be infected, hope a happy germ invades your body and multiplies, spreading merriment to all your major organs like door-to-door Christmas carolers until the virus finally reaches your heart: that red house at the end of the block where your deepest wishes reside, where a dog howls behind a gate every time that sorrow pulls his hearse up the driveway. Source: Hernandez, David. “Happiness Epidemic.” Casa Poema. Casa Poema, n. d. Web. 06 June 2011. Identify the main poetic techniques used in this poem. Refer to specific lines in the poem to illustrate the technique.