Of Love and Hunger by Kim Baker

For Betsy

Our wedding was a cornucopia of tradition:
congregational church ceremony, gaggle of guests, chorus of organ tunes,
gowns and flowers swagged in harvest colors of plum,
family and friends haloed by glorious pew candles,
food and festivity aplenty in Thanksgiving celebration.
Traditional. Except for throwing rice.

A new study reveals that Americans throw away 470 pounds of food per house hold per year.

Grain at weddings is ancient,
marrying harvest and happiness,
food and fertility.
Assyrians, Hebrews, and Egyptians
assured abundance with sheaves of wheat.
Victorians tossed white rice,
symbolizing a lifetime of blessings and plentitude.
Romans offered a gift of food to uninvited spirits
to ward off their evil.

According to the USDA, more than 12 million children live in “food insecure” households.

We married late in life,
joined two homes ripe with china and silver and linen,
overflowing with love and laughter and nourishment.
So in our nuptial invitation, we broke with social custom:
we invoked the ancients,
to ward off the evil spirits of childhood hunger,
and asked for gifts.
Of wheat.
Of rice.
Of jars of peanut butter and boxes of pasta and cans of tuna.

Americans gave away $300 billion in charity last year — about $1,000 per person.

Instead of throwing rice, our loved ones showered us with
5000 dollars and three vans packed with groceries for the local pantry.
Just enough to secure food
for a few more hungry families
for a few more desperate days
in this land of milk and honey,
this two-faced nation of charity and want.

Kim Baker’s poems have been published online and in print, her essays broadcast on NPR.

Kim’s play A Day in the Life of a Recovering Nine Year Old premiered in July 2014 at the Driftwood Players Short Play Festival in Edmonds, WA.

Under the Influence: Musings about Poems and Paintings, Kim’s first chapbook of poetry, is available from Finishing Line Press.

Kim is currently working on a book of ekphrasis poems about the stories and portrayals of women in the paintings of female artists.

Recently named Poet in Residence and to the board at Wickford Art Assocation, Kim organizes the annual Poetry and Art Show. www.wickfordart.org

Email Kim: bighairedpoet@gmail.com