Two Poems
By Stewart Acuff
Freedom
Freedom ain’t fruit pie to slice in slender pieces stretched for too many mouths
Or biscuits split in half covered with thin gravy to fill hungry bellies needing eggs, going without
Freedom refuses to be a scarcity available only to the most powerful
Fake freedom, freedom for the few dries on its vines shrinking in hot sun withering to husks
Full freedom must be watered and guarded so it flourishes stretching to cover everyone
Real freedom is as big and bright as the West Texas sky even at night shining in star light
Those who spend lives fighting freedom for others lose the little liberty of their tiny lives
Fighting freedom begins the end of humanity and its promise of harmony
Fighting freedom is the start of all atrocities
Freedom squeezed by the white men of Texas dries to seeds ready to rise.
.
Hunger
What is hunger?
Is it three days of peanut butter?
And saltine crackers?
A steady diet of ramen noodles?
No money for fresh vegetables
Or is it only children of war and famine?
Stomachs stuck out from malnutrition’s sickness
What about the kids of only one parent?
Working two part time jobs no benefits
A caregiver, cashier, hotel maid
Starvation and poverty pay
Never paid a living wage
Kids at home subsisting on cereal
Hunger now as American as corporate power
And greed great enough to destroy us and earth.
…
Great stuff, Stewart. Thanks for your continuing commitment to real lives!