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Hunger is a worldwide scourge. 
​This section includes poems recently written by poets from around the world.   

Poem by Brian Tawanda aka Towandah Ryan

2/17/2022

0 Comments

 
Hard Knock Life
​
Nutriment from fruit and vegetable
All sensation to the leaf, hoof, on rumination
All fruition to the thin root, at germination
Are gone extinct. Ever since;

The game of Thrones started with unpredictable seasons
The game of throws from bumper harvests ended
The toss of food like it is softball
The drunken masterly imbibe,

Which things used to be in hoards
Through pipe rings
Our little holes for swallowing big_ 
Right down,
Into stomach nets, or nests
As would the fancied basket ball

All those miracles ain't trite no more
Over-writings of early morning breakfast,
With top up luncheon and supper baskets at night time
Have become-alike-dry riverbeds

Such, now is the way it is
With every hungry man's throat
Flake aching like sun dried grass, 
As yellowish red as sand!
Only hoodlum and contagion remain_

In a comically fraudulent sense!
Famished are we, when with
Almost, all nourishment sources burnt out
To ashes
By lack of rains acting in cahoots with
Everything so called Global warming...
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Poem by Hatiba Muhammed

9/30/2021

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FOOD SECURITY
Food Security,
To be understood better,
We need to think of,
Food being reliable, accessible,
Affordable, adequate and qualitative.

Food security,
Being important,
There is job creation,
Enhanced economic growth,
And poverty eradication.

If we don’t keep food security,
We invite food insecurity,
There should be a network,
Amongst everyone in society
To maintain food security.

Food security,
This is a global concern
Its you and me to keep,
The flag flying for the good,
Of everyone.
You can watch the video by clicking on the file below:
win_20210901_19_34_09_pro.mp4
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Katiba Muhammed is the executive director of the Uganda Agriculture Teachers Organization. 
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Poem by Imitiaj Alom

8/6/2021

1 Comment

 
Shy once

She must have been shy once,
I thought,
As she tugged her headscarf a little tighter around her head.
Battered and worn-out, its color must have been
Outrageously bright long ago
But now it was just faded grey.
"I haven't eaten today. Spare some change?"
She asks.
I looked at her bare feet, dirty and rough
She hadn't owned shoes for quite some time,
I thought.
"I am hungry. Please spare some change, sir."
I can hear the slightest quiver in her voice
As she tugs her scarf tighter.
She must have been shy once
When her headscarf was outrageously bright red
Or pink or purple.
When her feet had shoes
Or at least a pair of sandals.
But as she reminded me for the third time,
She was poor and hungry,
And shame does not fill her belly.
She can not afford to be shy.
Yet I could not meet her half-hidden eyes,
As if I was holding enough shame for the both of us.
She must have been shy once.
I thought
But now she is just hungry.
A white-collar worker by profession and a poet by passion, Imtiaj Alom currently lives in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. A member of Wordsmiths of Kuching and KL Poetry Share, he performed in Word of Mouth, If Walls Could Talk, Inqbate, Berani Bersama and regularly performs in KL Poetry Shares Bi-weekly gathering.
1 Comment

Poems by Edward Kabali

7/30/2021

0 Comments

 
Endurance for humanity

‘’A day without food is a wasted day’’
Said the boy in a war torn refugee camp
But have you ruminated

On life without a farmer, food transporters, donors
Agriculture educators, food banks, processors and distributors

Again, have you imagined life without

Food and Agriculture Organization, World Food Programme
And the Capital Area Food Bank with their partners

‘’Yes, I have’’

Then what do you have to tell about that life
‘’You will never know that a madman on the street has brothers

Until you kill him!

I see one billion people left with no jobs
Isn’t that about 28% of the world population
I see rampant deaths due to hunger and starvation’’

What else do you see

‘’Malnutrition, diseases and stunted growth in children
Delayed delivery of the scanty available food
I see many economies collapsing

I see extreme poverty and food poisoning due to aflatoxins’’

All the holy books, whether the Christian bible, the Hindu Gita,
The Moslem Quran and the Buddhism scriptures

Are unanimous in one thing, that growing and sharing food is a good thing
With their humility like that of the carpenter of Nazareth,

Even in the covid 19 pandemic!

Fruits, legumes, vegetables, tubers, grains, meat and eggs have been constantly supplied

Aren’t these very crucial in the fight against covid 19
Oh…..even in the pandemic, they have been present!
But who are these food architectures, your guess is as good as mine!

Therefore, step up and be counted

On emulating what these great people do, on passing favourable policies

On supporting their hard work
On making them feel respected and appreciated
When the roots are deeper, there is no reason to fear the wind.
Click on the file below to listen to the poem:
endurance_for_humanity__1_.amr
File Size: 164 kb
File Type: amr
Download File

Our actions are our future

​Why cutting down trees
Dumping polythenes in soil
Settling in wetlands

Why abuse and excessively use agrochemicals
Pouring waste industrial residues into farm land
Is it because they are the solutions for survival today

Don’t you know

That some of today’s solutions are tomorrow’s problems
Such as the 811 million people go hungry
What about the 690 million people undernourished
Desertification and drought at an alarming rate
Low yields in agricultural production
Contaminated and unsafe food for consumption
Don’t we commemorate the world food day every 16 th October

What have we learnt from it
Have we put it into practice
Are you aware?

That you are potential victim
Besides, a potential solution to this fate
And that if we come together, we can change our destiny

Through sustainable agriculture
Afforestation and re-afforestation
Rightly using agrochemicals
Protecting the wetlands
Proper disposal of polythene materials
Can’t we invest more in agricultural research
That we may have plenty of food

To mitigate hunger and undernourishment across the globe

Isn’t this the right time

To exploit the available and explore more postharvest handling technologies
That we invest in in refrigeration and silos to store more grains

I believe that all this can be done
And that it will be done
Because if it’s not done we are done
May God bless you.
Click on the link to listen to the poem: 
​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2g4vQ5A8vSk&t=4s
Picture
Edward Kabali is an Agricultural Teacher at Grace High School in Uganda

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Poem by Fizza Abbas

7/18/2021

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Dear farmers of Talhar,

How do you feel when you see a gold expanse of grain 
Against the silhouette of the sky?
You work day in and day out 
Yet you don’t get get your due,
No recognition from mainstream media,
No visits from officials posing for camera  
You sow seeds 
Of life, wisdom and sugarcane
And you reap stones
Of stratification, status quo and destiny.

The culprits are ignorant urbanes like me
Who live in houses made with coffered ceilings
Want to grow flowers and shrubs in their backyard
But don’t want to step out of that backyard
To hold that flower in their palm,
Take in its magnificence,
And let its aroma beguile their senses

In an old village.

My mother lived in our ancestral village: Talhar
During the four initial years of her marriage,
She would speak of living in houses made of mud,
Using cow dung as fuel,
Sitting together with fellow women in courtyard,
Swinging back and forth in seats suspended by ropes,
Moulding clay to make earthenware pots, jars or vessels,
Reading stories of Akbar Badshah and Birbal -
Without rancour, without any malice.

I visited our ancestral village first time
After my mom's death,
The vast, yellow beds of sunflowers,
Women ploughing the seeds alongside men,
Children helping their fathers in chafing the wheat,
Made me see nature as the biggest equaliser of nature.

I looked at sunflower seeds,
Felt the urge to pluck one seed out after another,
Collect them,
And give them to each farmer,
To help them repay the debts owed to landowners,
But I knew they would stop me,
As their village was the paradise 
Where caregivers would lead the cattle.

Whether it's the wave crests
Or the cascading waterfalls,
I saw beauty in all its glory at the village.
Lofty brown mountains --
Hidden amid a beautiful mess --
Would open a cave to collect coins for laborers' survival.

Pockets of green would expand their size.
Rich meadow pastures would open more treasures.
When a laborers’ child played hide and seek,
He would randomly find thistles and flowers.
And his mother would call these little miracles.

Everything was on auto-pilot here.
Dwellers as well as nature.
But above all,
Farmers had a voice here.

Fizza Abbas is a Freelance Content Writer based in Karachi, Pakistan. She is fond of poetry and music. Her works have been published on quite a few platforms including Poetry Village and Poetry Pacific.
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Poem by Brian Ennion

7/18/2021

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A Bowl of Broth

Folk sneer at broth
The opaque oiliness of its slick surface
Floating above a watery complexion
Leaves only faint flavour lingering
In the fluid
As it gurgles and scalds
Gushing down one’s throat
A foodstuff for the poor they say

Those of more affluence favour soup
With its pungent punches of flavour
Its smug assault on associative memory
In a blizzard of colours, smells and sloshing sounds
Yet consider the humility of broth
In the faintness of its taste
Preserving a memory of something
No longer there
Picture
Brian Ennion is a poet from Liverpool in the United Kingdom. He is a History graduate and a keen runner. ​

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Poem by Richard Stephenson

7/18/2021

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Cookie Monster

They call him the Cookie Monster.

Om nom nom nom 
And the biscuits gone.

Striking while the oven’s hot
He can scoff the lot

They call him the Cookie Monster.

Om nom nom nom 
And the biscuits gone

He finds victory sweet
To have your cake and eat 
The food supply tumbles
The hungry stomach rumbles

They call him the Cookie Monster

Om nom nom nom 
And the biscuits gone

He’s in a world of plenty
Before the tin is empty.
But His mind denies
He is using up supplies


They call him the Cookie Monster

Om nom nom nom 
And the biscuits gone

A shame less greed
Cares not for need
More than a hunch 
He has eaten Africa’s Lunch

They call him the Cookie Monster

Om nom nom nom 
And the biscuits gone

Make him stop
Or the starving drop

R.Stephenson
Issue 01.4
13/11/12
Picture
​Richard Stephenson was born 50 yeays ago in Newcastle Upon Tyne. He is now a Chartered Engineer, working in the telecommunications industry. He lives in Reading UK where he runs the Dreading Slam Poetry Competition

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Poems by Chandra Gurung

7/18/2021

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Joy Unbound 

​Sometimes, 

While taking to air, 
The sprightly wings begin to tire 
The throat gets parched 
Hunger hounds the hollow belly 
Rain raids randomly 
And the sun bakes and boils. 
 
Yet, 
His life takes 
An unfettered flight imbued with majestic high 
 
 
Prosperity   
Three basic human needs: 
Bread, rags, and roof.

Bread— 


The bread I eat these days tastes different. 
I have forgotten the grim face of hunger. 

Rags— 

I dress better than I did long ago 
But the greed in my heart still goes naked. 

Roof— 

I live in a grand and high building these days 
From where people appear stunted. 

Picture
Chandra Gurung is a Nepali poet based in the Kingdom of Bahrain. In 2007 he
published his first anthology of Nepali poetry, and his second collection titled My
Father’s Face has been translated into English, has come out in Oct 2020. 
His work has been featured in many international anthologies including: More of
My Beautiful Bahrain, Snow Jewel, The Collections of Poetry and Prose series, Warscapes.com, and many others.
Also, Chandra often translates poems from other languages into Nepali.

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Poem by Guy Chambers

5/16/2021

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Sheltering
                                                              an ear whisper
                                                              beyond means
                                                              seemly out just
                                                              for the hurting

                                                  skin to the bones
                                                  knowing to the lone
                                                  dry eyes
                                                  not much to see
                                                  lonely cry
                                                  within a sigh

                                                      sheltering endless pain
                                                      in a plentiful world

                                                              an ear whisper
                                                              through the alley
                                                              ghostly ashes
                                                              in the trash

                                                  fingernails scraping
                                                  in the dumpster
                                                  for a mouse nibbling
                                                  in the spoiling 

                                                     sheltering endless pain
                                                     in a plentiful world

                                                             an ear whisper
                                                             a child staring at the chalkboard
                                                             strain veins
                                                             breathing weak
                                                             enduring fatigue
                                              
                                              wishful
                                              for a bellyful

                                                     sheltering endless pain
                                                     in a plentiful world

                                                             an ear whisper
                                                             outsight in the moonlight
                                                             dusk in in the footsteps
                                                             tears in silence

                                                  darkness settle in
                                                  of many
                                                  tells it all
                                                  written on the wall

                                                     sheltering endless pain
                                                     in a plentiful world

                                                            an ear whisper
                                                            impose damned
                                                            bare hand 
                                                            reach out
                                                           for hand outs

                                                  belittle muffle 
                                                  face without meaning
                                                  to what ends

                                                     sheltering endless pain
                                                     in a plentiful world

                                                                     why
Click on the file below to listen to the recording of the poem:
sheltering.mp3
File Size: 4001 kb
File Type: mp3
Download File

Picture
Guy Chambers  living out at North Cooking Lake Alberta. Has two books published called “Flying Kites in the Moonlight” and “The Theater” a story told in poetry about homeless ​

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Poem by Brenda Gunn

5/8/2021

3 Comments

 
Still Life

              She showed up late
              for picture day
              eyebrows shaved
              ratty toque pulled low
Do you want to take it off? I asked.
For the photo?
No
               she pulled it lower with both fists
My sister tortures me
               hiss-whispered
               between savage gulps
               of milkless instant oatmeal
from a tiny pack stashed in a locked drawer
              in the school office
That’s four times this week the secretary sniffed
              as if there’s a moratorium
              on food instability
      I don’t ask if this one knows where auntie is or if
      uncle still finds her and her little sister fake-sleeping
      under T-shirt blankets on the couch
              She tried to hide
              the circle seared into her palm
              the scratches on her knees
              from the cat,
              or so she said
              last time
Is there any more?
A note from the poet -- As an elementary school teacher of 33 years, I was often confronted with kids/families living with food insecurity. Ask any elementary teacher, and they will show you a snack drawer/closet/cupboard stocked with granola bars, oatmeal, beef jerky, crackers, etc. usually purchased with their own money, for hungry students. This poem is a reflection of that all-too-common situation. ​
Click on the file below to watch the video of Brenda reading her poem:
video_clip_brenda_gunn_still_life_img_2168.mov
File Size: 81130 kb
File Type: mov
Download File

Picture
Since retiring in 2017, Brenda's immersion in family research inspired a collection of poetry based on her paternal ancestry. A proud member of the Edmonton Stroll of Poets and the Parkland Poet's Society, her work has been published in Canadian journals and anthologies. Brenda is completing a certificate in creative writing and is at work on a second collection of poems. ​

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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