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Hunger Poems

You are encouraged to read the poems posted here and elsewhere on the

Poetry X Hunger website, to look  
at 
the historic accounts of hunger,

famine and starvation, or consider the ​prompts suggested and then...

​write some poetry about hunger.
 

Poem by Grace Cavalieri

8/30/2023

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Honey and Tea

On television I saw the documentary
Of boys sitting on the sand, maybe 50
With a woman cracking a whip over their heads
So they could chant a prayer
They, orphaned and lost, no food or medicine
Left in Africa by the Taliban
All men killed
Flies buzzing
Where were the girls
No I’m not exaggerating
One child held up a paper to shield the sun
They were dead
No life in their eyes
Already dead among the buzzing flies
I long ago asked God how I could still believe
That’s an old question
Now I ask myself
How can I write this
Now I say I do not want this cup.
Picture
Grace Cavalieri is Maryland's tenth Poet Laureate. She founded, and produces, "The Poet and The Poem" from The Library of Congress celebrating 47 years on-air. Her new book is "The Long Game: Poems Selected & New."

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Poem by Grace Cavalieri

5/29/2019

0 Comments

 
WHO WE ARE
 
“The cry did knock/against
                        my very heart…”  The Tempest
 
When we do not feed the hungry children in Biafra
Looking at tourists, then we are the camera, staring.
If we do not take away their starvation, then
We are also the black marketeers who stole their food.
We are the karmic seeds of Viet Nam
Running ablaze with fire on our backs.
We’re the hummingbird flying the Atlantic in March.
We are Katrina because clothes were soaked, and when
There was no more food, when no help came,
We were the empty verbs.
These are the tears that come unbidden for Mozambique,
For starving children in the trees,
Waiting for rescue helicopters. All this,
When there were other possibilities.
Don’t you feel the heartbeat of the earth, the knob
We could turn? The magical tree we could put back in the rain forest?
Can you count the number of women sold to slavery we could wrap  
In warm cotton and bring back home? 
Riding an idea is like riding the wind
Unless we harness its lonely tumult, unless we give the fruits
Of the earth to open mouths and aching stomachs.
We are the rain on the cold hungry dog in the streets of Chile,
The disfigured man in prison, the mass deaths in Bosnia.
We are the shame of the soldier who thought he should
Die instead of his buddy. We are the broken clock of
The widows of war, their last dreams filled with absence.
If we are the ones who do not feed, comfort or save--
We are the grave. 
                                        
AFRICA

Children sitting in the dirt all in a row
Children sitting in the dirt
A row of children in the dirt
Tin cups in a row
Flies in the eyes of children
A row of children in the dirt
Children with big bellies 
Dear God what is the perfection in this?
That we see and still believe?

Click on the file below to listen to the poem:
mono-003.mp3
File Size: 955 kb
File Type: mp3
Download File


Picture
​Grace Cavalieri is Maryland's tenth Poet Laureate. She's founder/ producer of "The Poet and the Poem" on public radio ,celebrating 44 years on-air, now produced at the Library of Congress. Her new poetry book is The Secret Letters of Madame de Stael (Goss pub. 2021).

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    Suggestions & Ideas

    Take a look at some of the writing prompts to get inspired!

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  • Home
  • About
    • About the Initiative
    • Initiative Founder
    • Advisory Board
  • Hunger Poetry
    • e-Collection
    • Hunger Poems
    • World Food Day Poetry Competition >
      • 2021
      • 2020
      • 2019
      • 2018
    • Maryland Poets
    • International Poets
  • ART
  • News & Blog
  • Young!
    • Poems by Young Poets
    • Videos
    • Materials for Teachers
  • Library
    • Extent of Hunger >
      • Global Hunger: Progress & Challenges
      • Hunger in the US
    • Historic Accounts of Hunger >
      • Africa
      • The Americas
      • Asia
      • Europe and Russia
    • Historical Poems
    • Interviews
    • Recent highlights
  • Contact/Submit/Take Action
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Call to Action
    • Resources & Donations >
      • Global resources
      • US resources
      • Maryland resources