POETRY/CULTURE
Food Deserts Are Our Just Desserts
Access to food should be a right for everyone
Can’t buy real food anymore
Walmart left
And was replaced with the dollar store.
Can’t buy meat
Cigarettes and alcohol
Isn’t dinner
Can’t buy those in a
Snap
Or with a Snap
card.
Cakes and cookies
Not filling
To the willing.
cash is
A lost art
veggies
Ripe from Mr. Moore’s
Big neighborhood garden.
He grew everything
great collard greens
Reigned supreme
Mouth watering watermelons
Perfect for the diet
green leaves and fruity orbs
local grocery stores
Can’t buy from them anymore
All stores closed
Facaded storefronts
Where independent grocers used to be
A desert as
deep and wide as
The Mojave
No Kroger
They left too
Can no longer walk to
It’s just was well
The neighborhood is
hell
anyway
Or so they thought
I’ll go get my cake.
I can eat it too
On a bus ride
Far away.
It’s a shame that many communities in America today are without grocery stores. Many poor people are forced to go far away to buy their groceries. The effects on the community and health of the residents are vast. I saw this happen in my old neighborhood. Grocery stores used to thrive and the community was alive with American commerce. Mom and dad was able to go right into the store and get whatever they wanted. Grocery stores in the 70’s and 80’s were the heart of the community. According to NPR, there are more than 19 million Americans who live in food deserts. The drier the desert, the less water there is. Grocers and big box stores need to stop bleeding communities dry. They deserve better.
