Poetry x Hunger: Do the Math: Spring 2020, Quarantine Edition
By Sunu Chandy, Washington, DC
3rd place winner of the 2020 World Food Day Poetry Competition
Math Problem 342: If your breakfast comes from school and you don’t go to school then what happens? If your lunch comes from school and you don’t go to school then what happens? If your afternoon snack comes from the afterschool program, and it is all cancelled until further notice, then what happens?
Math Problem 343: If your mom loses her job at the restaurant because no one is allowed to dine out during the pandemic, then what happens? If your mom loses her job at the restaurant and then can’t bring home food at the end of the night, then what happens? If your mom loses her job and then there’s no money for groceries, then what happens?
Math Problem 344: If your health insurance is tied to your job and then you lose your job, then what happens? If your employer only gives health insurance to full-time employees and then you get your hours cut, then what happens? If you are furloughed and can barely make rent, much less food, then what happens?
Math Problem 345: If your unemployment check barely pays for your rent and then there’s no money left for food, then what happens?
Math Problem 346: If the church with the food pantry and the friendly smile is now closed until further notice, then what happens?
Math Problem 347: If there is one gallon of juice in the fridge and there are four children and the juice is gone by Wednesday, then what happens?
Math Problem 348: If there are three stalks of broccoli, and six people in the family, then what happens?
Math Problem 349: If the toddler is allergic to wheat and all the food at the new food donation place contains wheat, then what happens?
Math Problem 350: If there are 680,000 people living in Washington DC, and most of them are not hungry, then what happens?
Math Problem 351: If there are close to 680,000 living in Washington DC and 1 out of 10 residents of the metropolitan Washington DC region is food insecure, how many people is that? And if nearly ⅓ of them are children, how many children is that?
Sunu P. Chandy (she/her) is a voter, mask-wearer during a pandemic, flaming feminist civil rights attorney, poet, parent, Mar Thoma/Quaker/Buddhist/Unitarian, queer woman of color, and the daughter of immigrants to the U.S. from Kerala, India. She serves as the legal director of the National Women’s Law Center in Washington, D.C., is on the board of the Transgender Law Center, and is a former board member of Split This Rock, a poetry and social justice organization.