Poem by Eike Waltz

The Price of a bite

I just saw a little black girl
stealing an apple
from a grocer’s display
deliciously arranged…
a feast for the eye...

I just saw a little black girl
stealing an apple
from a grocer’s display
deliciously arranged…
a feast for a child’s hungry eyes...

I just saw a little black girl
stealing an apple
from a grocer’s display
she took a desperate bite
and in no time…
the city’s police…surrounded her side...

I just saw a little black girl
stealing an apple
which the law confiscated…
…evidence…hunger…
handcuffed…
The terrified child did not cry…
She did not belong to anyone...

I just saw a little black girl
so hungry…stealing an apple…
she took a desperate bite
now handcuffed at best
hunger on her mind...
Under arrest...
To be punished…demoralized
unable to run away…

The apple lost its value
The police executed…it’s the law...
The child still hungry...
The angry grocer threw the apple
blemished with that desperate bite…
into a garbage can…
A church-going white grocery man…
I saw his gilded cross on a golden chain...
Afraid…threatened
she might steal again…
I saw a little black girl
being hungry in America….

Once...I...was hungry
malnutrition and TB
searching the ruins of a devastated Germany...
A war child…fingers pointed at me…
I was to beg and steal…
And should I get caught
I was told to say:
…I am hungry...
And take the “mundraub” plea
(take the “mouth robbery survival ” plea)
I might get away…so they did say...

American parcels…full of care
saved me…saved a foreign
white boy…
The kid son of a defeated enemy
thank you...America the beautiful...

These days I can’t forget…
I saw little girls…
I remember young boys…
Half-frozen people
Children POW’s…with no noses...no ears...no fingers...no
toes...
I saw hunger…in staring eyes
A dead Nation…no moral to be found
on that blood-soaked earthen ground...

So…I found you…America
I came to you…America
Like you…I am now too…America…
Now my nightmare…is America...
What happened…to your care… America?
It was once…me
Who stole a bun
like you…little black girl
from a display
deliciously arranged
a feast for a hungry eye...
By God…did I run…
Yes…I was lucky…and got away…
But you…little black girl
You are handcuffed...
Hungry…and that in America…today...

Your apple was thrown away…
Unsellable
into America’s obese garbage can…
Now…we feed the swamp of riches...
America…what is the price of a bite?
…Imagine…
We would care
and feed that little black girl… America...the bountiful
But for now
we must re-learn to earn
to become again…America…the Beautiful.....

Eike (ike) Waltz – Bio
I enjoyed a three-fold career as classical ballet dancer, an international electronics industry consultant, and as a sculptor/poet. Between these careers, I studied engineering and fine art at the Royal College of Art, London (MdesRCA).
www.f-artstatements.com

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