American Madonna Hunger wears a face full of hope like the girl on the magazine cover cradling a loaf of white bread as if it’s a miracle. Tonight she will sleep with food in her tummy. Hunger’s face is innocent like the little boy buying a corn-dog at the corner store or his neighbor who’s grateful for two plump strawberries tucked in the family’s food box. Hunger tells the same story sweeping across time and place from Oklahoma’s Dust Bowl to Mississippi’s Delta towns— Loss and desperation landing sucker-punches on families across America. Hunger’s face is weary like the fictional Rose O’Sharon heavy with grief after birthing her stillborn child. Her pain ripples through the air, palpable and raw like the fresh scar on her heart. She seeks refuge from the rain in an old barn, a boy offers her a musty blanket. She spies an old man huddled in the corner gripped by hunger like a fist in his belly. Rose offers him the only gift she has lying down next to him, baring her breast, and sharing her milk. Click on the file below to listen to Ann read her poem:
Ann Bracken has authored two poetry collections, No Barking in the Hallways: Poems from the Classroom and The Altar of Innocence, serves as a contributing editor for Little Patuxent Review, and co-facilitates the Wilde Readings Poetry Series. Ann advocates for arts-based interventions for mental health, education, and prison reform.
3 Comments
Nina Heiser
9/18/2020 03:19:37 pm
A gorgeous poem; a gruesome truth.
Reply
Akewi
9/19/2020 09:43:27 am
Amazing! A dynamic poem allowing me to evaluate my purpose behind my passion. A great way to depict the many accommodations one must make when hunger and tragedy attacks. This is profound
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
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
June 2021
Poets
All
|