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.

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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.

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