Voices of Woodlawn is a program that looks back at American history and reflects forward on what slavery then means to us today...

Voices of Woodlawn is a 35-minute program of poetry written in reflection on the 90 largely unknown slaves at Historic Woodlawn Plantation in Fairfax, VA.  The harmonica-flowing program was recorded last Sunday during the worship service at Davies Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Camp Springs, MD.

Here's the link --
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnTsGDB8USs&feature=youtu.be

The story told by these poems is very moving and is very, very timely. 

The Voices of Woodlawn --
Patrick Washington
Diane Wilbon Parks
Sylvia Dianne "Ladi Di" Beverly
Hiram Larew
with Cliff Bernie on harmonica  

If you help guide classroom or workshop discussions focused on food, agriculture, farming, hunger, nutrition or related topics, you may want to tune in an upcoming webinar titled, "Poetry & Extension:  Poetry as a tool in Extension Programs."   It will be held on Thursday, Nov 5 from 2 - 3 pm East Coast Time US. 

Hosted by the good folks at eXtension, the webinar is free, but registration is required. 

Here's the link - https://connect.extension.org/event/poetry-and-extension-poetry-as-a-tool-in-extension-programs

Hiram Larew will be co-leading the discussion with Ronald David Myers of the University of Maryland's Cooperative Extension System where he serves as the Extension Educator for Anne Arundel and Prince George's County. 

On October 14th, during a celebratory event for 2020 World Food Day, FAO North America has announced the winners of the 2020 Poetry Competition. Please find the press release here: http://www.fao.org/north-america/news/detail/en/c/1313949/ 

The recent announcement that the World Food Programme has received the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize showcases both the WFP's fine work and the scourge of hunger around the world it seeks to end.
Find the announcement here:
 https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2020-10-09/nobel-peace-prize-to-be-awarded-friday-in-oslo  

Thanks to the Capital Area Food Bank for hosting the Poet-in-Residence program, the first-ever such writer's residency to focus on poetry about hunger.  Award-winning poet, AaronR of Arlington, VA served as the Poet-in-Residence and wrote the poem, My Name Is Hunger. 

Poem by AaronR
My Name is Hunger
​
Hello, nice to meet you – my name is Hunger
Not just a craving for a particular taste that makes you wonder
I’m talking about the one that gives you pain when you slumber
The one that has cars packed in both lanes, with people waiting to take a number
This pandemic that we’re under?
That doesn’t bother me
In fact, I’m even more visible due to problems with the economy
This has made me increase
Children can’t go to school so that’s a few less meals that they can eat
Parents are unemployed now so that’s less money they have to make a feast
The world is so greedy that they aren’t looking after the needy
Everyone is not succeeding
Success can be so fleeting
We aren’t even talking about the ability to make money; we’re talking about the ability to be eating
If lack of food is the problem you sow, then me as Hunger, I’m the one reaping
The richest country in the world, so we have the means, but I don’t know what that means?
Together Everyone Achieves More, are we no longer a team?
It’s 2020 and it still seems
That we’re dealing with the same problem that Capital Area Food Bank saw when they started this dream
Now that team
Gives 30 million meals of food away yearly
And it’s still people out here that’s starving dearly
100,000 square foot food distribution site, 450 distribution places, something’s going right
Curbside groceries, food banks weekly, daily, even through the night 
They are doing their job clearly
But in the nation’s capital, where there’s lots of capital
There’s still children starving- I want the rich people to hear me
The poverty people fear me
They have all types of needs, high cholesterol, and diabetes, 
Having food to eat shouldn’t be a privilege but a basic life necessity 
To stop me, it’s no particular skill to it
I’m not sure if people have the will to do it
The resources are available
I’m in every city everywhere you go
If we can make sure that everyone has gloves and a mask around their face
There’s no reason we can’t make sure that everyone has food across  their plate
I’m Hunger, I’m not a matter of what’s wrong or right
While some of you are living the good life
I’m ready to take over somebody who doesn’t know where their meal is coming from tonight
I’m Hunger
So stop me or keep watching me
Continue to affect millions of people as food becomes an unaffordable luxury

This is the video presentation of the poem that AaronR wrote while poet-in-residence at the Capital Area Food Bank:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EWEHy3WSjQKMJqpnK1HKhN1oFtL-Xy-k/view 
Video by AaronR: https://youtu.be/fG1nAjnHNRs
Aaron's Facebook page is here: https://www.facebook.com/aaronRthepoet4

Please take a moment to read this important post and see the images from across the U.S. that speak to the food insecurity: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/09/02/magazine/food-insecurity-hunger-us.html

The world’s hunger is getting ridiculous, There is more fruit in rich man’s shampoo than in a poor man’s plate. — Anon.
Growing up I was haunted by the eyes of a hungry child. But the child was usually on the cover of a magazine like the National Geographic, and I assumed the photographer fed the child after the photo shoot. Besides the child was halfway across the world. Hunger didn’t exist in America I fooled myself.
This week on the front page of the NY Times was a little girl with those same haunting eyes of hunger. But the young girl wasn’t in some far away place, she lived right here in USA a victim of the poverty brought on by Covid.  While our leaders try to convince us things will get better and don’t worry because the stock market is at an all time high they turn a blind eye to the haunting eyes of hunger.
No society can call itself moral if its children starve. If we do anything on a daily basis we must turn the haunting eyes of hunger to the bright eyes of a full stomach.

The original post appeared here.

Hunger Free Communities Newsletter has featured PoetryXHunger in their latest bulletin! Click on the file below to take a look: