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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 Linda Dove

5/28/2019

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Property Rights
 
We watch them on the news after supper,
the families made destitute by guns and fire,
whole villages fleeing torture and rape.
 
We observe them in health centers
as they cradle infants turned to bone,
as adult bodies wither, sag and stumble.
 
George Orwell down and out got it partly right.
He wrote, It is fatal to look hungry.
It makes people want to kick you.ᴵ
 
Kicking is fear expressed in hate and blame,
in the sense there’s not enough.
that our bellies too could flap like theirs,
hanker every hour for crusts.
 
Our greatest fear is lest we forget
to forget that we too are mortal,
that one day, sooner, later,
we too wither, stumble, die.
 
We prefer not to know that the luxuries
of our living—our money, homes and treasures--
are but arbitrary gifts of grace.
We do not own our bodies, let alone our stuff.
 
Accepting fully that I will die liberates me
from the urge to kick. But the next step
is the hardest: to feel free to share my supper
with the hungry, as though it were my last.
 
Linda Ankrah Dove
July 25, 2018
 
i George Orwell, Down and Out in Paris and London, 1933
Click on the file below to listen to Linda read her poem:
linda_dove_recording.m4a
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Picture
​Linda Ankrah-Dove’s career in development in the poorest countries of Africa and Asia inspires many of her poems. Her first book, "Borrowed Glint of Jade", was just published!

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  • Home
  • Art Auction to Alleviate Hunger
  • Hunger Poetry
    • Hunger Poems
    • World Food Day Poetry Competition >
      • 2021
      • 2020
      • 2019
      • 2018
    • Maryland Poets
    • International Poets
  • About
    • About the Initiative
    • Initiative Founder
    • Advisory Board
  • 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