Found Poem

We Want Food

            If we asked about food – in a casual way, because we didn’t want to cause any trouble – she’d simply shrug and say she couldn’t make something out of nothing. We kids usually kept our hunger to ourselves, but we were always thinking of food and how to get our hands on it. During recess at school, I’d skip back into the classroom and find something in some other kid’s lunch bag that wouldn’t be missed – a package of crackers, an apple – and I’d gulp it down so quickly I would barely be able to taste it. If I was playing in a friend’s yard, I’d ask if I could use the bathroom, and if no one was in the kitchen, I’d grab something out of the refrigerator or cupboard and rake it into the bathroom and eat it there, always making a point to flush the toilet before leaving.

            Brian was scavenging too. One day I discovered him upchucking behind our house. I wanted to know how he could be spewing like that when he hadn’t eaten in days. He told me he had broken into a neighbor’s house and stolen a gallon jar of pickles. The neighbor had caught him, but instead of reporting him to the cops, he made Brian eat the entire jarful as punishment. I had to swear I wouldn’t tell Dad

            A couple of months after Dad lost his job, he came home with a bag of groceries: a can of corn, a half gallon of milk, a loaf of bread, two tins of deviled ham, a sack of sugar, and a stick of margarine. The can of corn disappeared within minutes. Somebody in the family had stolen it, and no one except the thief knew who. But Dad was too busy making deviled ham sandwiches to launch an investigation. We ate our fill that night, washing down the sandwiches with big glasses of milk. When I got back from school the next day, I found Lori in the kitchen eating something out of a cup with a spoon. I looked in the refrigerator. There was nothing inside but a half-gone stick of margarine.

We asked Mom about food

She couldn’t make something out of nothing

We were always thinking of food

And how to get our hands on it

Find something in some other kid’s lunch bag

A package of crackers

An apple

A loaf of bread

And I’d gulp it down

I’d grab something out of the refrigerator

Take it to the bathroom

And eat it there

Brian was scavenging too

Stolen a gallon jar of pickles

The neighbor

Made Brian eat the entire jarful

A half gallon of milk

Two tins of deviled ham

And a stick of margarine

The family

Bag of groceries

Disappeared within minutes