Poems by Alan Barysh

I Willingly Go To Sleep Hungry

I willingly go to sleep hungry
Sometimes it’s a fast for religious purposes
Sometimes it’s because my doctor told me to do that
And then there are times when I am too tired to fix anything to eat
But I know
I will end my fasting period
I will eat again after I leave the doctor’s office
I will get tired of being tired and fix myself something to eat
But sadly some people go to sleep hungry
Because they have no other option
And these people will wake up hungry and stay hungry
Until
They find something to eat
And if they don’t find something to eat
They will go to sleep hungry again and
Wake up hungry again
Until they find some food
Or die

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I Have a Hunger for Justice

​I have a hunger for justice
It
Gnaws
At
My very soul
I have a hunger for justice
It’s an insatiable
Hunger
That keeps me active and always on the move
I have a hunger for justice
That motivates me every day
To get up
To stand up
To Speak out
And never stop hungering for justice
Until as the Bible says
“Justice will roll down like thunder
And righteousness like a mighty stream”

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To the Well Fed and Paid Professional People Who Run Those Big Charities

​It sure seems like some kind of paradox to me
When I think about all those well-fed
And well paid
Organizers
Who dictate letters to their secretaries that start off
Dear friend
Make their pitch
And thank you “in advance”
Doesn’t it
Kinda
Sorta
Creep you out
Thinking about some
Well-fed
An office worker who gets a paycheck
And lots of benefits
As he (or) she
Stuffs envelopes asking for donations
While
Despite these people having more than enough food at home
Say
I think I will eat out tonight
Because
I really have nothing (I want) to eat at home
Or
Or
Go home
Or out to eat
And say to the someone or someones
You know I had a hard day at work
I had to skip lunch
And now I am really starving
Doesn’t it make you want to holler and yell
You don’t know the half of it
And you never will
Until you are out of a job
Out of a home
And haven’t eaten a
Very
Very
Long time

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BIO: Alan Barysh is a local Baltimore poet/activist who has been a part of a now-defunct group of poets/activists who did benefit and awareness benefit for the homeless and the shelters that serve them. He has been a poet activist since 1963.