|
Reflections on a Global Crisis under African Skies Calloused feet on hardpack path, Brick-red clay snaking through emerald oceans, She plies survival with shouldered hoe, Wondering idly of other worlds, Where trying times occasion “crises,” As though not daily specter of woe. Where luxury of plenty prompts hoarding, And misery trickles down unordained, Unholy, Cascading, crashing Thunderously on the fragile lives Of those who can least sustain. You can listen to the poet reading his poem clicking on the button below: it will open the audio file in a new window  John William Medendorp is an international development practitioner and lifelong humanitarian, devoted tooth and nail to the elimination of hunger and poverty.
0 Comments
The Spinning Plate of Hunger When I think of hunger it's usually in terms of the most innocent – the babies of the world. Babies, be they black, white, pink, brown, yellow, tan, even blue, no wait, blue babies happen when hunger wins. When they loll in mother's arms covered in flies with their little eyes glazed over in Africa or India or some other foreign land, flies feasting on their innocence but always somewhere else, never here! Not here in the good old USA [it can't happen here] oh but yes it can! We pride ourselves in maintaining a higher quality of poverty than the rest of the world As if one could quantify suffering per capita, as in “what level is your hunger today?” We are conscientious about records keeping, quantifying, measuring, comparing... we don't know much about this disease but we have lots of data. One thing we do know is that Hunger is a constant, no matter what diseases are making the rounds Hunger is a spinning plate that no food can ever stick on, a plate that must keep spinning come hell or high water. It's our cross to bear, our national obsession. But what good is a plate if you can't get the food to stay on it? What kind of a joke is this? Nobody around here is laughing.  RD Armstrong from California, USA has been serving the muse and poets everywhere for 25 years. He writes, (tho poems are few and far these day). He publishes others and himself. His Lummox Press (https://www.lummoxpress.com/lc) is almost as old and has published some 200+ titles. Because he is a loner, all this remains a big secret that only a few poets know about.
Bread in Hand But even after all of this farmers keep farming for every one of us They bend the sun and raise the earth each day for us They round each rough and tamp down these fears for each of us Yes after all of this They’re the bells of life for us And even after all of this the grocers pickers baggers stackers sorters drivers checkers and sweepers too are here for us Like bowls of life they give us each our every day and so renew that sense of trust for us And even after all of this and just as much are those who volunteer to serve the soup The ones who help and give and care on our behalf Their hands and hearts shape our thanks -- No matter what else happens they are life And yes even after all of this These days seem like fields to us with shadows deep across the view but with hope there too a full green that grins as ever just like those who stand and wave bread in hand through all of this Click on the button to listen to Hiram Larew reading his poem. The link will open and start playing in the same tab.  Hiram Larew founded the informal Poetry X Hunger initiative in 2017 as a way to bring two areas of interest – poetry and hunger prevention – together. Upon retiring from the U.S. Department of Agriculture where he helped guide international agriculture programs, he noticed that relatively little poetry about hunger was available. Believing in the power of poetry to touch hearts and minds, he launched Poetry X Hunger as a way to encourage poets to write about hunger.
|
Now more than everThese poems have been submitted to the call for poetry "Now more than ever" Archives
October 2021
Poets
All
|
RSS Feed