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Sustainability Sustainability is the ability to stay strong To keep generations’ moving on But literally and figuratively there have been storms Fires, floods that have ravaged lands Damaged crops And when we know the causes How can there be these great pauses of profit over margins Should we wait til all are starving We have to stop Sustaining the need to change the pain brought on by drain Straining to survive with what remains Claiming what we can from land abused Drought over land Fought over Land Bought over objections of protection By corporations with core objectives to take and take without limitations To proliferate profits without the slightest indication to sustainability Fill the coffers, meet the proffers to investors and move on Sustaining Though raining hard Yet yard refuses yield Like headstones in a fruitless field Reflecting death, from those who’ve left But messages were left behind Remember to respect the time the things contained The way things change, while staying the same These ways Sustaining must be explained, must be learned That paths of wrath may thus be turned That for our children earth remains Sustained  Brenardo aka Andre’ B. Taylor, is a native Washingtonian poet and songwriter. He has been writing for over five decades on all matters of life. His written words have been featured in countless newspapers, magazines, and poetry anthologies, and he is a veteran of stage, radio, and television, who believes in being of service to the word which graces him to help others.
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GINGERBREAD When my mother packed my lunch, she wrapped a slice of gingerbread in wax paper and the upper crust stuck to the wrapper when I peeled it open, so I set the greasy paper aside, and meant to throw it out, but that Malony girl, whose dress was always stained, snatched it from my desk and licked the crust off the waxed paper, all the while beaming with delight the way an epicure might grin to avail herself of a fine morel paté. Her family lived in a rundown farmhouse behind the cemetery, all the paint worn off the clapboards. How many siblings she had no-one could count, and because I didn’t understand, I told my father how that girl took my trash to eat, and wrinkled my nose in disgust. But my father, who had been to Calcutta during the last war and seen people sleeping in the streets, only sighed and said softly: “You must have compassion.” I still didn’t understand, but I wanted to be a good son, and now I wonder what became of all the Malonys, and if that girl grew past her hunger, if she ever tasted anything sweeter than my mother’s gingerbread crust, and if one day she got to wear a dress without a stain. Here is the link to the video on You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGcu7pPvBOg  W. Luther Jett is a native of Montgomery County, Maryland and a retired special educator. His poetry has been published in numerous journals as well as several anthologies. He is the author of four poetry chapbooks: “Not Quite: Poems Written in Search of My Father”, (Finishing Line Press, 2015), and “Our Situation”, (Prolific Press, 2018), “Everyone Disappears” (Finishing Line Press, 2020) and, “Little Wars” (Kelsay Books, 2021).
When Schools are Soup Kitchens She doesn’t raise her hand when the teacher asks who wants to order the free snack/supper even though she knows she will go hungry. No one else raises their hand. He shrugs and tells his friends he isn’t hungry, covers his growling stomach with laughter because he’d rather starve than his classmates discover his lunch account is empty again. Dining with dignity impossible when nothing at school is anonymous. Her teacher slips bags of chips into her desk while they are in P.E. so her classmates won’t see. The counselor fills his backpack with boxes of mac and cheese and cans of beans a bag of rice so he won’t go hungry over the long weekend. Bandaids on the gaping wound of their hunger. Click on the file below to listen to Gabby read the poem: 
 Gabby Gilliam lives in the DC metro area, more specifically Montgomery County, Maryland. Her poetry has appeared, or is forthcoming from, The Chesapeake Reader, The Fredericksburg Literary Arts Review, and Tofu Ink Arts Press. Her short fiction will appear in a forthcoming anthology from Black Hare Press.
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Hunger-focused Poems by Maryland PoetsCreation of this section and publishing the works of Maryland poets was supported by the Maryland State Arts Council. Archives
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