Poetry X Hunger
  • Home
  • About
    • About the Initiative
    • Initiative Founder
    • Recipients and Donors
  • Hunger Poetry
    • e-Collection
    • Hunger Poems
    • World Food Day Poetry Competition >
      • 2021
      • 2020
      • 2019
      • 2018
    • Maryland Poets
    • International Poets
  • ART
    • ART Inspired Poems
  • News & Blog
  • Young Poets
    • Poems by Young Poets >
      • West Side Campaign Against Hunger
    • 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 >
      • Global resources
      • US resources
      • Maryland resources

Hunger Poems

You are encouraged to read the poems posted here from national poets 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 Kim B Miller

1/16/2021

7 Comments

 
The Hunger Dialect
​

We sip on tea flavored with righteousness indignation
Add a touch of honey dripping in our own gluttony
While we slowly speak the dialect of hunger
We claim to be ambitious on solutions 
But truth says we have never met
We spread lies evenly
As if, evenness eliminates detection 
Hungry people see a world of excess who view starvation as avoidable
Victim shaming is our specialty
This dialect of deception is clearly recognizable
The language we lie with is so bitter, even when dripping off of sweet religious lips
We can’t feed everybody
Here comes the lie
We embrace the acceptance that doing nothing is equal to trying
Yet we continuously knit together new excuses with old lies 
We shame hungry people on full stomachs and then we rewrite the narrative
Imagine a world that throws away enough food to feed the hungry complaining about loss
While the population who has food insecurity is waiting to be found 
Empty stomachs are not looking for empty words
We need long term, right now, sustainable actions
Let’s plant fruits and vegetables and let freedom be the gardener
Allow people to pick fresh food from their community greenery
Have community barbeques and well placed public pantries
Donate to trusted restaurants so they can offer free meals to those in need
Create central areas for restaurants to bring food instead of throwing it away
Let’s reinvent how we distribute food
Make it easier to ask without asking
And no more pretty phrases for ugly things
Starvation is not “food insecurity”
Is death “breathing insecurity”
Our appetite for synonyms seems high
Hunger has many levels
And a need to make hunger definable to all is needed
Let’s make sure we are not using it to avoid saying words that sting
Starvation is a “life insecurity”
Action is the cure
But we’re too busy slicing up excuses
While hungry people look at an empty plate full of indecision
We don’t even offer them a cup of hope
Click on the file below to listen to Kim reading her poem:
audio_only.m4a
File Size: 3286 kb
File Type: m4a
Download File

Picture
Kim B Miller is an award winning poet. She is the Poet Laureate for Prince William County, VA. She is the First African American Poet Laureate for PWC. Kim performed nationally in person and internationally online. She is the author of several books. You can find more about Kim at www.kimbmiller.com

7 Comments

    Suggestions & Ideas

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

    Archives

    June 2025
    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    December 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    July 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    May 2019

    Poets

    All
    Aaliyah El-Amin
    A.G. Kawamura
    Alan Barysh
    Amanda Conover
    Amelia Díaz Ettinger
    Anne Harding Woodworth
    Argos MacCallum
    Ashlynn Doljac
    Bill Batcher
    Blair Ewing
    Brenardo
    Brenda Bunting
    Brian Manyati Aka Towandah Ryan
    Bruce E. Whitacre
    Cathy Warner
    C.C. Arshagra
    Ceredwyn Alexander
    Chip Williford
    Christina Daub
    Christine Hickey
    Christopher T. George
    C. John Graham
    Cliff Bernier
    Crystal Rivera
    David Dephy
    Debbi Brody
    Deborah Diemont
    Dee Allen
    Don Hamaliuk
    Dorothy Lowrie
    Dr. Vaishnavi Pusapati
    Duane L Hermann
    Duane L Herrmann
    Ed Zahniser
    Eike Waltz
    Eileen Trauth
    Elise Power
    Elizabeth Farris
    Ellen Rowland
    Emily-Sue Sloane
    Emily Vargas-Barón
    Eric Forsbergh
    Evan Belize
    Gary D. Grossman
    Gayle Lauradunn
    Geoffrey Himes
    Gloria Valsamis
    Glynn Axelrod
    Grace Beeler
    Grace Cavalieri
    Heather Banks
    Hedy Habra
    Holly Wilson
    Ishanee Chanda
    Jacqueline Jules
    Jay Carpenter
    Jay Carson
    Jean Liew
    Jefferson Carter
    Jeffrey Banks
    Jeffrey Engels
    Jess Perkins
    Joan Dobbie
    Joanne Durham
    Joseph Mukami Mwita
    J R Turek
    Judy Kronenfeld
    Juliana Schifferes
    Julie Fisher
    Kalpna Singh-Chitnis
    Kari Gunter-Seymour
    Kari Martindale
    Karina Guardiola-Lopez
    Kathamann
    Kelley White
    Ken Holland
    Kimberly Sterling Penname-River Running
    Kim B Miller
    Kitty Cardwell
    Kitty Jospé
    Kristina Andersson Bicher
    Laura McGinnis
    Lee Allane
    Lee Gill
    Linda Dove
    Linda Trott Dickman
    Lindsay Barba
    Lisa Bennington-Love
    Lisa Biggar
    Lissa Perrin
    Lynn Axelrod
    Lynn White
    Maggie Bloomfield
    Margaret Brittingham
    Margaret R. Sáraco
    Margarette Wahl
    Margot Wizansky
    Marianne Szlyk
    Marianne Tefft
    Martha E. Snell
    Marti Watterman
    Mary Ellen Ziegler
    Mary Meriam
    Megha Sood
    Michael Glaser
    Michael Minassian
    Mike Dailey
    Milton Carp
    Mona Zamfirescu
    Naima Penniman
    Nancy Murray
    Nan Meneely
    Naomi Ayla
    Naomi Grace
    Natalie Diaz
    N Chamchoun
    Neal Grace
    Paulina Milewska
    Philip Harris
    Pramila Venkateswaran
    P. S. Perkins
    Q.R. Quasar
    Rick C. Christiansen
    Robbi Nester
    Robert Fleming
    Ron Shapiro
    Sandeep Sharma
    Sean Sutherland
    Sharon Anderson
    Sharon Waller Knutson
    Sheila Conticello
    Sherrell Wigal
    Sistah Joy Alford
    Susanna Rich
    Susan Scheid
    T. A. Niles
    T.A. Niles
    Theresa Richard
    Tom Donlon
    Vickisa
    Vincent J Calone
    V.j.calone
    Wayne Lee
    William Rivera
    Zane Yinger
    Zinnia

    RSS Feed

Copyright Poetry X Hunger 2024.
Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • About
    • About the Initiative
    • Initiative Founder
    • Recipients and Donors
  • Hunger Poetry
    • e-Collection
    • Hunger Poems
    • World Food Day Poetry Competition >
      • 2021
      • 2020
      • 2019
      • 2018
    • Maryland Poets
    • International Poets
  • ART
    • ART Inspired Poems
  • News & Blog
  • Young Poets
    • Poems by Young Poets >
      • West Side Campaign Against Hunger
    • 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 >
      • Global resources
      • US resources
      • Maryland resources