Poem by Anne Harding Woodworth

Question

And if we know that there is food for all--
and many out of work are starving now--
why do the powerful disregard the call?
The hungry wait in line, standing tall.
Some leave empty-handed—why and how?
Of course, we all know there is food for all.
It’s said that it will worsen by the fall--
no flour, meat, no creamy milk of cow.
See how the powerful disregard the call.
The farmers find no market for their haul,
and so they hide their crops beneath the plow.
The powerful know it could be food for all.
Where’s the people’s aid in protocol?
Destructive like the trash from an ocean scow.
And the powerful disregard the call.
The hungry infants cry. The world has stalled.
Sweat does not collect on many worker’s brow.
And if we know there’s food out there for all,
why do the powerful disregard the call?

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Anne Harding Woodworth is the author of six books of poetry, with a seventh, Trouble, coming out in late 2020. Her poetry, essays, and reviews are published in journals in the U.S. and abroad, in print and on line. She lives in Washington, D.C., where she is a member of the Poetry Board at the Folger Shakespeare Library.

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