Faye Sizemore
A BIRD CALLED HUNGER
… A picture taken in a foreign land
A small child crawling… too weak to stand
… overlooked by a carrion bird
… its cries gone unheard
Who is the God who sent the vulture
to await its meal of human flesh
… dying for want of a crumb of bread
Could he have not sent an angel instead
that the vulture would go hungry to his bed
Perhaps God did sent an angel
… one with a camera in his hand
to record for all the hunger in that land
and in the recording was deemed his karma
Can we… ashamed and shocked… just turn our head
Our karma will be deemed as well…
…………………… in the ways that we cast our bread
©Copyright March 4, 2004 by Faye Sizemore
Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph by South African, Kevin Carter (deceased).
Vulture watching a starving Sudanese child struggling toward a food station
Webmaster’s Note: After a request by Christina Sharik for permission to display this poem on her personal website, Faye responded with the following:
Certainly… I am honored. Thanks for the good words…
I had Grant [Faye’s partner] look and see if Tony [IWVPA Webmaster] had posted Kevin Carter’s pic[ture] with it because I couldn’t bear to see it… It was there and after Grant viewed the picture, he said he was unable to read the poem…
There are so many things in this world that need righting… It seems terrible that feeding people should be one of them… The things we take for granted are the things on which others daily existence depends…
This country probably wastes enough food daily to feed the rest of the world… We have been in Ryan’s steak house at closing time and seen everything off the hot bar… Steaks, all kind of meats… veggies you name it… 100’s of pounds… go into the garbage…
… And then there are those like the child in that picture…… What’s wrong with our picture?? What eyes are we viewing with… indifference??
Getting off my soapbox… words won’t feed anyone…
Faye
March 19, 2004