Food (insecurity)

A poem about food insecurity in the world

It’s simple
You plant a seed
add some water and light
Wait
Wait

There
Green
Breaking through the brown
Dirt

It a miracle
really
when you think about it

A dry speck of cells
dead by all measures
produces life

So basic kindergartners do it

Accidental — life happens
Happens when you throw the apple core and miss the can
When you spit a seed in a field as far as you can

A new plant
potential food

So why
Do children die
Surrounded by flies
Death already in their eyes?

Food is so cheap
Modern nations
Destroy and rot
just to keep prices up

How can I explain to the kid
That her mom will steal and cheat
To get something to eat
for her — the kid
As she herself cries to sleep

I can’t explain
I don’t know that pain
But I feel it everyday
When I see her beg on the streets
See them dying on the screens
For only $1.59 a day
But that commercial has been on TV since I was three
And nothing seems to change

It’s simple really

You plant a seed; add some water and light
Wait. Wait

Maybe it’s not