A POEM MADE OF BREAD
By Ibtisam Barakat
Because millions of children every year will not see the inside of a classroom. UNESCO REPORTS.
In the middle of bread --
all loaves, all shapes:
American white,
French baguette, or
Arabic flat --
single flour
or multi-grain
there is the word: read.
All that remains if you break
a loaf of bread is: read.
past and present
eternal like rain
falling from the sky
grain by grain. . .
Those who cannot read
are the hunger of this world.
And dinner will not be ready
until they can read.
Dinner will not be served
until all can read
and the young have books
early in life
to sleep on like pillows
after reading so late,
and the passing to have books
to take to the afterlife --
a gift to the reading angels
who long for human bread. ©
* * *
Additional resources:
Suggestions if you love to write:
(a) Every culture has its own bread; why not write your own poem made from the bread that you love most, or a poem that includes bread.
(b) Make imaginary bread -- from ingredients that you choose.
(c) Think for a moment: if a book is bread, what can be a dessert?"
Listen to the poet read this poem
all loaves, all shapes:
American white,
French baguette, or
Arabic flat --
single flour
or multi-grain
there is the word: read.
All that remains if you break
a loaf of bread is: read.
past and present
eternal like rain
falling from the sky
grain by grain. . .
Those who cannot read
are the hunger of this world.
And dinner will not be ready
until they can read.
Dinner will not be served
until all can read
and the young have books
early in life
to sleep on like pillows
after reading so late,
and the passing to have books
to take to the afterlife --
a gift to the reading angels
who long for human bread. ©
* * *
Additional resources:
Suggestions if you love to write:
(a) Every culture has its own bread; why not write your own poem made from the bread that you love most, or a poem that includes bread.
(b) Make imaginary bread -- from ingredients that you choose.
(c) Think for a moment: if a book is bread, what can be a dessert?"
Listen to the poet read this poem
Note: ِA POEM MADE OF BREAD is one of the closest poems to my heart. . . perhaps because reading and writing are my real bread. . . and I dream of every person being able to get highest quality education. Photo source: IMEU (institute of Middle East understanding)
