A Poem I Wrote About Food Over Lunch by Heidi Gum

“Don’t you think that accessing food should be a human right?

I’ve come to learn that this is an issue we cannot take so light.

But I’ll try to lighten it up a little, make it artsy and into a rhyme.

Thank you for letting me share my thoughts and take a few moments of your time. 

If you think that burger on your plate is just a sandwich or a meal,

Your consumption is actually a political act, it’s powerful and it’s real.

Who fed the cow that grew nice and plump and would later become your lunch?

Who turned grain into a hamburger bun? Who picked tomatoes on which you munch? 

Who drove the truck that delivered the tomatoes to the Walmart or the Kroger?

Who was the cashier you passed your money to so those tomatoes were handed over?

Do your dollars pay that cashier, or do they pay the farmer who grew the crops tall?

Do they fill that food truck with gas, or was it distributed among them all?

Were the tomatoes grown by a West Virginia farmer just across the way?

Or by a farmer across the southern border with no benefits, no insurance, and little pay?

I probably don’t need to tell you, however, to eat local, grow your foods or read labels.

So let’s move on to the topic of current events, not fictional and none of them fables.

I continuously see violent attacks on the most vulnerable ones, 

I see more moves each day, it seems, to change how government assistance runs.

I hear about asset testing just to qualify for SNAP. 

I hear of cutting SNAP funding in half, keeping those in poverty trapped.

Work requirements in food assistance programs are a political tool.

Forgive me for thinking that capitalizing on poverty is somehow inherently cruel.

How a harvest box of processed foods could properly nourish a family is a mystery,

Especially when boxes of food like this have a deeply rooted racist history.

We managed to lift the lifetime ban on SNAP for those with a felony over drugs, 

Yet it’s hard to celebrate those victories and pass around the high fives and hugs.

Because there's still a lot of work to be done, and it won’t happen with ease.

If legislators only recently learned humans still eat food with that disease.

The cycle of poverty continues here, and folks struggle to stay alive.

But what do you expect for families living on starving wages of $8.75?

A capitalist food regime can work if you succumb to self objectivity.

All you have to do is measure self-worth by your productivity.

But we can all live a comfortable life if we just work hard for that dollar,

But it might be different if you’re a woman, disabled, not cisgender, or a person of color.

I picture white-collar bureaucrats deciding what foods families get to eat,

I feel held back by an invisible force that can only be described as defeat.

But then I take a look outside, because I hear an empowering sound,

And I see West Virginia state employees marching all around.

Out of nowhere I have this epiphany, where I finally see with clarity:

There's a force stronger than these attacks on food, and that force is solidarity.

To my state legislators, I hope you don’t think your position gives you immunity,

Because in my work, I immerse myself daily in West Virginia communities.

You have your connections, which I commend, because I also have mine.

My team of educators, farmers, pantry workers, and more have a power quite divine.

And if you think I’ll make myself smaller because I’m a woman, or because I’m young,

Then you’ve mistaken “woman” for fragile and you’ve mistaken “young” for dumb.

Because I’ve been that farmer in the field with the aching back,

And I’ve been in the pantry with tired hands from putting food in kids backpacks.

I’ve been that researcher in the lab, collecting data and looking at stats,

I’ve spent some time observing the food system and wearing some different hats.

So if you like to eat a little food from time to time,

You’ll listen closely to see the deeper meaning behind my playful rhyme. 

Because the food system is the farmer and it's me and it's you.

It's labor across land and ocean borders and it's our legislators, too.

It’s the cashier at the grocery store, it’s what food we throw away.

It’s the economy, the environment, and social structures that all come together this way.

And if you think you don’t have a say, or you make up too small of a fraction,

I invite you to join me in the fight for food justice and foster some collective action.

Use any privilege you have or hold people accountable who do.

Don’t wait around hoping things will change because that change could be sparked by you. 

Apologies now to everyone here who thought my rhyme was childish or even a little crude,

But if you didn’t, let’s chat after this about advancing the right to food.”