‘unfit for human consumption’ by Isabella Borgeson
we heard the digging first / the familiar splash of rain and mud
‘unfit for human consumption’
they buried the rice / in the middle of night / sacks of spoiled grain / truckloads of expired relief goods / 7,527 food packs / pouring into pit / donated clothes splotched with mold / we heard the digging first / the familiar splash of rain and mud / 284 sacks of rice / the knocking teeth / of canned food clanking / I don’t understand why this is happening / when the vans finally left / aunti sent the children outside / carrying wet rice / stuffed into our t-shirts / 81 packs of noodles / cans of sardines spilling out of pockets / the news says ‘spoilage due to improper handling’ / ‘not fit for human consumption’ / but no one here has eaten in weeks / 95,472 assorted canned goods / it seems they’d rather fatten the worms / and watch us starve
Gut-wrenching and precise
Poignant poem, especially in today's world, where this happens daily, and genocide and famine are on going.