Poem by Phyllis Klein

Famine

The grocery store gave us seven bananas we didn’t ask for
in our curbside pickup bag. Our next door neighbor said
he’d take three off our hands for his trip tomorrow to Utah.

His wife with dementia gone just a week. The other three are going 
to our neighbor on the other side, who gave up sugar but not fruit, 
so God would let her daughter keep the newly adopted baby 

during the trial period. And we’re keeping one. Banana. The New York 
Times asks if we have been hungry and the answer is no. But I wish 
I could find more bananas for all the hungry people, children 

and their parents. Then I would be doing more than writing about it. 
About how this pandemic is starving some of us. I would figure out 
a way to feed the people who are ravenous, give them food trucks, 

restaurants, unlimited curbside pickups. Because it’s not okay
to be famished, to be craving security when there isn’t so much, 
people dying as usual and more than usual.  At least the baby 
is going to stay where she is. At least one less tragedy to face. 

Click on the file below to listen to Phyllis reading her poem:

phyllis_klein-famine.mp3
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Phyllis Klein’s work has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies. She has a new book, The Full Moon Herald  from Grayson Books. Living in the San Francisco Bay Area for over 30 years, she sees writing as artistic dialogue between author and readers—an intimate relationship-building process that fosters healing on many levels. ​

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