Poetry X Hunger
  • 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

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

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
Leong Calvin
8/7/2021 10:25:19 am

Gut-wrenching, my favourite poet!

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Authors

    You can find poets' names under Categories

    Archives

    February 2022
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    February 2021
    September 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    February 2020
    November 2019
    August 2019
    June 2019

    Poets

    All
    Abha Das Sarma
    Betty Makula
    Brenda Gunn
    Brian Tawanda Aka Towandah Ryan
    Chandra Gurung
    Denish Moorthy
    Doreena Jennings
    Edward Kabali
    Fin Hall
    Fizza Abbas
    Ger Duffy
    Guy Chambers
    Imtiaj Alom
    International Poetry
    Jose Padua
    Josephine LoRe
    Katiba Muhammed
    Kelly Van Nelson
    Laura Mulcahy
    Martin Chivaku
    Patience Gumbo
    Poems By JSI Team Members
    Rashid Hussain
    Rena Fleming
    Richard Stephenson
    Sharmila Pokharel
    Takudzwa Chikepe
    Tony Treanor
    Zolisa Gumede

    RSS Feed

Copyright PoetryXHunger 2022


Search the website:

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • 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