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Poem by Argos MacCallum

9/7/2022

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Yemen Girl

young girl with a thousand names
stands in the doorways of Yemen
long skirt billows in the breeze

young girl stands in the jaws
of war and hunger
no rain but bombs fall from the sky

she clutches her headscarf
confronts the camera level-eyed
one eye steeled in the pugnacity of life
the other convulsed in horror

the roofs fall on the uncles
the walls crash onto cribs
the ground erupts in blisters
under the shrapnel sky

the young girl is our grandmothers
hands past and future clasped
together in a star-lit continuum
a long procession of endurance

​loss and love
Picture
Argos MacCallum has published two chapbooks of poetry-- She Loved Gravity and Would Fall Down Exquisitely Anywhere (Synergetic Press, 1987), and Sleeping Woman Mountain (Kelsay Books, 2022). His poems have appeared in Malpais Review, :Lummox Anthology, and PoetryXHunger. He lives in Santa Fe, NM.

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Poems by Argos McCallum

3/26/2022

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News Story

dead giraffes in the Kenyan bush
dissolve like rancid butter
in the heat of the unending drought

emaciated cattle lie down in the desert sand
serrated ribs sink into rivulets of erosion
carved long before by extinct rain

the village digs deep in the earth
to find the trembling brown water
lifted to the light bucket by bucket

the four year old girl
too weak to raise her head
eyes like dead fish

a childhood without a childhood
where laughter never rains
only dust so eager to devour

and way to the North
an oozing caramel of cars
scarifies the land in toxic opulence

and a child’s balloon is caught
on power lines
in dark descending twilight
--
Boys
brothers and cousins
emerge from the family compound
and follow snow-dusted lanes
to the busy avenues in Kabul

with their shoeshine kits
a group of four
in case they encounter
hostile competition

to earn a few coins
worth an american nickel
to buy bread
to take home to family

they wish they were in school
to become doctors or engineers
when they grow up
but since their fathers have no work

they shine shoes
unless like this morning
no one needs their services
stomachs pang eyes are proud

wait— a few pairs of shoes
thrust out of a door
the boys sit on the ground
and work

just enough for a bread
split four ways
after all
workers have to be fed

the veiled sun begins to descend
in the grey winter sky behind minarets
the mantle of responsibility
doesn’t ward off the cold

shoulders hunch forward
night will be long again
take the long way home
in case fortune might smile

and fill a few pockets
with bread for the sisters
mothers and the fathers
who scratch proverbs in the dust

with stunted sticks
and count exhausted prayer beads
simmering in frustration
afraid to look in mirrors

the boys’ shadows stretch homewards
sweet delay of a few more transactions
muffled laughter at an inside joke
warm bread warms the hand

​child is father to the man
give all a fair portion of dignity
give all the means to be
the lion will hold high his head
Picture
Argos MacCallum is an actor, director, carpenter, theatre manager, and co-founder of Teatro Paraguas, a bilingual theatre company promoting Latinx plays in Santa Fe, New Mexico.  He has lived the past 50 years in his homestead in the shadow of the Cerrillos Hills off the Turquoise Trail outside Santa Fe, where the coyotes party all night long.

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    About

    The poems that follow are powerful evidence that Poetry Speaks Back to Hunger!

    They were submitted to the 2021 World Food Day Special Call for Poems from North American Poets.  Several of these poems will be showcased in the coming weeks by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and the Capital Area Food Bank.  

    Thanks to poets Josephine LoRe (Alberta, Canada), Brian Donnell James (Virginia, USA) and Martiza Rivera (Maryland, USA) for helping to assess the poems.  Thanks also to Rebecca Roach for donating nearly 1200 tree seedlings on behalf of the poets who submitted work.  And, a big thanks to poet Aaron R who helped to administer the Special Call. ​

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    Poets

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    Anna Mioduchowska
    Anna Yin
    Antoni Ooto
    Aressa Williams
    Argos MacCallum
    Bartholomew Barker
    Bhikshuni Weisbrot
    Brenda Gunn
    Brittany Sabatino
    Buffy Aakaash
    Cindy M. Buhl
    Cleveland Wall
    Dan Bissonnette
    David Bartlett
    David Mook
    Diane Sahms-Guarnieri
    Diane Wilbon Parks
    Dianna L. Grayer
    Doris Diosa Davenport
    Eileen Trauth
    Eldon Winston
    Elijah Pringle
    Elizabeth Black
    Ellen Bass
    Faris Ahmed
    Gavin Barrett
    Grace Cavalieri
    Heather Meloche
    Heidi Mordhorst
    Henry Farkas
    Henry Victor
    Jamie Brown
    Janet Cannon
    Joan McNerney
    John Guzlowski
    John L. Dutton II
    Joseph Caperna
    Joyce Williams Graves
    Justin Johnson
    Keith Inman
    Laurel Chambers
    Lauren Camp
    Linda Fischer
    Linda Nemec Foster
    Linda Pastan
    Linda Wolfe
    Lori Heninger
    Margaret Patricia Eaton
    Marilyn Fishman
    Mark Fishbein
    Megha Sood
    Milton Carp
    Molly Ponkevich Burack
    Nityananda Khanal
    Patricia Trentacoste
    Patsy Asuncion
    Rg Cantalupo
    Richard Stukey
    Rosemary Klein
    Ryan Gibbs
    Sally Zakariya
    Sandra Rivers-Gill
    Serena Agusto-Cox
    Shan Overton
    Sharon Olson
    Sistah Joy
    Stewart Acuff
    Susan McMaster
    Sylvia Dianne Beverly Aka Ladi Di
    Teresa Méndez-Quigley
    Theresa Tull McGinnis
    Thomas Schuelke
    Waqas Rabbani
    Willeena Booker
    Wynne Morrison

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  • Home
  • Art Auction to Alleviate Hunger
  • Hunger Poetry
    • Hunger Poems
    • World Food Day Poetry Competition >
      • 2021
      • 2020
      • 2019
      • 2018
    • Maryland Poets
    • International Poets
  • About
    • About the Initiative
    • Initiative Founder
    • Advisory Board
  • News & Blog
  • Young!
    • Poems by Young Poets
    • Videos
    • Materials for Teachers
  • Library
    • Extent of Hunger >
      • Global Hunger: Progress & Challenges
      • Hunger in the US
    • Historic Accounts of Hunger >
      • Africa
      • The Americas
      • Asia
      • Europe and Russia
    • Historical Poems
    • Interviews
    • Recent highlights
  • Contact/Submit/Take Action
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Call to Action
    • Resources & Donations >
      • Global resources
      • US resources
      • Maryland resources