RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES
Hunger in America
Hunger in America has always been
Denial is the American way
Food insecurity is a euphemism
Like eccentricity for madness
It does not describe the truth
The way a stomach tightens
In the throes of hunger
It does not describe
How the mind fogs over
And all thought centers on food
It does not describe
The shame of mothers and fathers
When a child goes hungry at night
Hunger is like a drug addiction
It gnaws at your humanity
It drags you to the gutter
It makes you plead
Like a common beggar
It transforms you into someone
You no longer know
So don’t belittle it with euphemism
Its name is hunger
It is one step short of starvation
It is a time of desperate yearning
(an estimated 35 to 50 million Americans
will experience hunger during the pandemic)
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