Sistah Joy Alford, the County's Poet Laureate was moved to write the following poem affter she visited this website.  Thanks to her for sharing her poem.

Please feel free to follow her lead!  Send your hunger-focused poems to POETRYXHUNGER@gmail.com.  ​

​The Visitor
          - by J. Joy “Sistah Joy” Matthews Alford
 
Hungry paid me a visit today
Knocked on my front door
Then came right in
Didn’t ask for permission
Made himself right at home
I tried to extend the courtesy of politeness
Despite the rude rumblin' sounds from inside me
Asked if he had someplace else he needed to be
Surely he could see my fine table setting
But hungry had no use for niceties
Threw my delicate doilies and 
Linen napkins to the floor
Then reached right inside me 
Twisted my gut
Fillin' me with such anguish and pain
I never thought would come my way
But here I sit in my kitchen
Between cabinet and refrigerator
Both as empty as my wallet
Echoes bouncin’ between each
As I wait 'n wonder when and where
I will next get somethin’ to eat. 

J. Joy Matthews Alford, a.k.a. “Sistah Joy” was recently named the first Poet Laureate of Prince George’s County.  Known for messages of social consciousness, inspiration and empowerment, she received the 2002 Poet Laureate Special Award from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities “for her outstanding contributions to the art of poetry in Washington, DC.”  Sistah Joy produces and hosts the award-winning cable television program, Sojourn with Words, which has aired on CTV (Comcast Ch. 76, Verizon Ch. 42), the Prince George’s County local access station, since 2005.
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The Chicago Council on Global Affairs has a weekly news round up that offers the latest developments in the food and agriculture sector. Here is one of the latest issues with a link to a new report "Managing Water for a Nutritious Food Future".

The Society for Creative Writing at Shepherd University aims to bring national and international poets, fiction, and non-fiction writers to Shepherd University in order to encourage literary dialogue and to expose students and community members to professionals in the writing field. We are partnering with the Shepherd University Foundation and the Shepherd Entrepreneurship and Research Corporation (SERC), a non-profit corporation at Shepherd University:  
www.shepherd.edu/societyforcreativewriting 

Knitters against food poverty!This story comes from the UK:
"Last weekend, folk in Crediton, Devon, woke up to the first day of Credfest, their local community festival, to find that their square was festooned with hand-knitted bunting, fruit, veg and even Cornish pasties – it had been ‘yarn bombed’ by people wanting to raise awareness of food poverty both locally and nationally." You can see more pics and read more about it in this blog.

Aaron R., the winner of the last year's World Food Day Poetry Competition, read his poem "Hunger Pains" at the 55th Annual Conference of the Association for International Agriculture and Rural Development (AIARD):

Here is a very heartening story about the power of poetry to unite people on different sides of conflict. It appeared recently in The Guardian: 
​https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/19/yemeni-poetry-thrives-despite-trauma-of-civil-war