Lines of breadless bellies
and moldy dreams
black blizzard coming
in the bread basket
breadwinner lost
dusty hope.
Hungry children
chew on hands
because it’s not
my day to eat
waste not, want not
let’s play eviction.
Some buy
what they can use
while others
can’t buy
what they can’t
live without
Bread of Life
filling and free
heaped baskets
daily for all
and hope reigns
in the dust.
I think you got the photo exactly. Well done, Sandra.
Thanks, Glynn.
Powerful images, anger, despair and healing, an excellent take on the prompt.
Thanks. 🙂
very nicely done!
thank you
I love your name!
hope reigns in the dust…what a perfect last line for a spot-on poem
Thanks, Claudia.
Great poem! I love the last stanza. Without hope, all is lost. I hope we never have to watch our children go hungry. But some do. I am challenged to make a difference, somehow. Blessings.
Thanks, Melissa. And blessings to you.
the many faces of hunger … you’ve worded it well
Thank you, Susan.
Excellent challenge response! Reading your poem conjures up images of The Grapes of Wrath. “Hope reigns” love that phrase. Many smooth lines throughout. Cheers.
Thanks. I need to read that book again.
An interesting writing, very reflective of the photo prompt
Thanks so much, Kodjo.
I like your use of “in the breadbasket”, which evokes not just the literal basket that holds bread but America’s Midwest and, of course, the religious connotations.
Nicely done.
Thank you, Maureen. You’ve filled my basket today. 🙂
Powerful last words… hope reigns in the dust. Wow.
Thanks. I appreciate your visit.
I too like the use of ‘breadbasket’ and its symbolism.
And that last line — and hope reigns in the dust —
oh my.
Wow!
Hi Louise. I had missed the prompt. Then I read your response.
“Let’s play eviction.”
Oh, oh. The second stanza did something here.
I read somewhere they really did this. Sad, huh? Children tend to play out what they know.
Sandra, I know this isn’t the Black Friday reflection post you mentioned doing, but it isn’t far off the topic in one sense.
Yes, and I thought of Black Sunday–April 14, 1935, I think. My real Black Friday post will be far from serious stuff. Well, maybe in a sense not.
I’m with Lyla. “Let’s play eviction.” That’s powerful.
Yes–and scary. It makes me wonder if some children might be playing that game today. I think I read that they would take a pile of stuff and pull it from one part of the room to another. 🙁
good one, sandra.
Thanks, Nancy!