Hunger, the Bold Brute: #FOODFWD Spoken Word

Spoken word artist Dania Roach, a junior at The George Washington University, describes the urgent need to feed the planet in her poem, "Hunger: The Bold Brute".

One man's trash is
another man's treasure.
One man's breadcrumb,
another man's feast.
Table scraps get swept
away swiftly as if
they'd never existed.
Meanwhile somewhere
someone's stomach
sings with persistence.
It's time we choose to
throw hunger away instead.

It's everywhere -
can you see it?
Hunger doesn't always sleep 
along the spines of sidewalks.

Hunger lingers at the back table 
of elementary school 
cafeterias
because Daddy couldn't spare 
2 dollars today.
And what would 
the other kids say
if they heard the emptiness
that creeps and crawls and 
claws at my insides?

Hunger erupts with the
final dismissal bell that reigns
the summer months in.
And you'd never guess
that to some
for whom the bell tolls,
summer means 
one, and sometimes two,
less meals a day.

Hunger shrinks down
behind the cold caress 
of cubicle desks,
dreading each day's lunch
break because food
insecurity follows millions
to work everyday.

Hunger is a bold brute that
won't surrender without a fight.......
so let's fight.
Let's fight for the ones who must
scrape the remnants
of their pride to the side
to beg for nickels and for dimes.
Fight
for the tables that beg bread,
for the mouths that, too often,
go unfed.
Fight
because every day in America
there are children who lick
their tears and remember 
what it's like to taste for
the first time in days.
Fight
because hunger is a disease
that doesn't always fester overseas.
Hunger lives on our streets
it snakes and slithers
throughout millions of 
American households
each year.
Fight
because each year it gets 
closer to swallowing our
nation whole.
Can you hear her cry out ?

It's time we choose 
to throw hunger away.
It's time to feed our planet today. 

Facts from:
UN News Centre
thewaterinitiative.com
Freedom from Hunger
nps.gov