Poem by Brenda Bunting

A Lady Yells Up and Down Minnesota Avenue I'm Hungry!
 
What does hunger look like?
I follow the steps of quiet children.
Their footprints weren't light or dancing.
Bare feet drag to an abyss of undernourishment.
Such big stomachs and tear-less crying,
This is what we have seen on television.
Staring at a world away we are deceived. 
By the perception of distance--
Hunger does not notice day or night.
It is the same a gray edge of pain unbroken.
The ailing wake slow and anguished,
To the daily promise of a starving nightmare,
Every sense of enjoyment is dull to life.
We work and drive and live in circles of luxury. 
The hungry world is not our fault.
The street corner looks are drug induced.
I can waste more money with fake charities.
We demand the freedom of un-involvement.
Justifying our apathy with cynicism, 
I indict myself more than I do you.
Emancipated hands of poverty's daughters,
Dig into earth looking for a heartbeat,
Of sustenance of nutrition gold,
To follow a garden line,
To a life line of full happiness,
With every kind of fruit and vegetable,
The rich soil of giving could offer up.
But the ground is tight and hard.
What is meat but imagination abounding.
The breath is a death stench most foul.
Babies are aware that they are dying.
They instinctively suckle at the air.
Wide eyes blinking, "Feed us!"
I ignore the lady yelling. I think she looks high.

(c) Brenda Bunting

Click on the file below to listen to Brenda reading her poem:

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Poet Brenda Bunting, she/her/hers is the author of “Poems of Love and Violence In Between Life and Death” 1st and 2nd editions on Amazon.com.  Brenda is published in numerous publications online and in print nationally and internationally. She is an insightful poetry workshop facilitator and spoken word artist with a passion for equality and racial, social, and environmental justice. Brenda is an active member of the Prince Georges County, MD poetry community. She is a life member of the Kentucky State Poetry Society and is working to complete her next books of poetry. Check out her artist page on Facebook at  https://www.facebook.com/pg/BDBpoet​

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