Poem by Eileen Trauth

Famish

On the starving plate you filled a hungry
heart with empty food and left a hunger.

You served up soup instead of sympathy,
your way to say what still left a hunger.

You baked a bridge of bread that just revealed 
what you could not cross; it left a hunger.

You offered roast beef that never appeased 
a craving for words, which left a hunger.

You wrote letters with your meals, meant to speak
your silence. Unsent, they left a hunger.

Your dazzling dishes did not nourish; feast
turned to endless fast that left a hunger.

In stillness, as you passed the salt and we 
ate our détente, I was left a hunger.

Click on the file below to hear Eileen read the poem:

famish.m4a
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Eileen Trauth is an author, inclusion advocate and Emeritus Professor of Information Sciences & Technology at Pennsylvania State University. She has published ten nonfiction books, many articles and one play. Her creative writing includes poetry, historical fiction and screen writing. She lives in Cincinnati, Ohio. www.eileentrauth.com

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