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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 Lynn Axelrod

9/29/2020

1 Comment

 
Gleaning

Lining up at the food bank,
neighborly encounters.
I drop off pancake mix,
cold sausage, chocolate
milk from our fundraiser,
cancelled in Covid-time.
Homeless men and women
on downtown streets so long
pantry workers greet them
as friends in strange vicinity,
not entirely strangers,
not completely local.
Housed locals enter quietly
depart quickly
or accept offers
for door-step delivered meals.
A woman not far
mails surgical masks
to her roofless brother
by way of a local
knowing his creekside camp.
Is a mendicant holding a bowl 
on pilgrimage less hungry
than a roofless man
with family keeping distance?
Finger-ping of the bowl is a bell,
attention to the virtue of less.
Roofless man is attended
by his own practical credo.
In Paris, passing a child
holding out her hand to a crowd
rushing up a Metro staircase,
woman beside her weary.
Wrong train, running back
down deserted steps in time
to catch the woman
berate the empty child.
Picking these words
for thought, not work,
leaves me wanting more,
an eater of other courses
and meals to give
instead of memory.
Lynn Axelrod is a community organizer in her home area, a northern California coastal village. She’s been a reporter for a weekly newspaper, an environmental NGO staffer, and an (early-retired) attorney. She has an undergraduate degree in literature, pursued graduate lit. coursework while teaching freshman courses, and has studied with several well-published poets. She continues reading literature, poetry, history, and current affairs. Her work has appeared in several journals, in print and online. 
1 Comment

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  • 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!
    • 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 >
      • Global resources
      • US resources
      • Maryland resources