Invisible Children

Title says it all

Invisible Children

Their mothers can see them, but to us they’re invisible
These fate-cursed little creatures with long lashed, limpid eyes
In the poor part of town where hunger is permissible
Empty cupboards are opened with sad, hopeless sighs

Yes, we glimpse them occasionally, when famine strikes other nations
We see them on TV, broadcast from strange sounding lands
Hunger’s a democratic denizen, sparing no child it’s sensations
And welcomes our own crying children into it’s cold callous hands

Submission into malnutrition is the chronic condition
These hidden, unseen children must confront every day
Sentenced by hunger to a living perdition
On their mom’s leaden heart, these cruel conditions heavily weigh

While most of us worry about our kids overeating
About high fructose content, roughage and such
These kids, with ribs like infantile armatures, arms outstretched and pleading
 remain unseen, out of sight, and unknown to our touch

Behind paint peeling doors, stoically enduring the horror of hunger
Cloaked in invisibility by the fickle fate of being poor
Conditions which no innocent, wide-eyed waif should live under
Scant noticed innocents, yet they’re out there for sure.

Author's Note

meant more to be expository than poetic

Reviews

[Michelle Stinson]

Actually, they way I read this in my mind, it sounded a lot like a beat poem, something you might hear on a street corner in NY or NO. Absolutely, this could be a beat poem, I just read it aloud - perfect for the stage. I like this ALOT.

[Marie]

IT is an expository, and you do it well.
Don't make "its" a possessive when it's (it is) a subjective adverb.

[Thomas Fitzgerald]

it reads well, almost fires the imagery in ones mind, a well written piece, well done, good read.