The children scream at night from hunger

The Biden administration did not end the war, but continued it by other means, which are turning out to be more violent and destabilizing. The economic sanctions imposed by the United States and its allies are causing widespread, severe hunger in this desperately poor country.
— Mark Weisbrot, USA Today

Journalist Susannah George reports that 42-year-old Afghan Ahmed Shah Jamshidi says he borrows money from shopkeepers to buy potatoes and cooking oil so his wife can make his family a watery stew.When the family has no food, “the children scream from the hunger at night,” Jamshidi explained. “Sometimes all we have is donated stale bread and tea. And when we run out of tea, I just gather grass to boil with the water.”
Common Dreams

Have you seen the latest episode
Of America’s Got Talent?

The children scream at night
From hunger.

The NBA playoffs are exciting
And could go down to the final game.

The children scream at night
From hunger.

The price of gas is through the roof
And there’s no downturn in sight.

The children scream at night
From hunger.

Didn’t the Tony Awards
Put on a wonderful show?

The children scream at night
From hunger.

The new Top Gun movie made $124 million
On its opening weekend.

The children scream at night
From hunger.

The proposed Pentagon budget
Is nearly $800 billion.

The children scream at night
From hunger.

The U.S. does not approve
Of Afghanistan’s Taliban government.

The children scream at night
From hunger.

We will do what we must
To defeat them.

The children scream at night
From hunger.

In the USA the welfare of all children
Is our top priority.

The surviving fourth-graders of Uvalde
Scream at night reliving the horror

And the children of Afghanistan
Scream at night from hunger.

Buff Whitman-Bradley’s poetry has been widely published in print and online journals. He has a new book coming out from Finishing Line Press, A Friendly Little Tavern Somewhere Near the Pleiades. Read other articles by Buff.