Know the back of your fridge like the back of your mind

Keep in touch with the contents of cupboard

For it seems many people are widely resigned

To food wastage lately discovered

It’s not just a pack of fresh bread gone to waste

Though a small simple thing it may seem

Like poison in water may not have a taste

It still finds its way down the stream

There’s a bigger incredulous picture at stake

And if lucky you might sense your role

In the power you wield by being awake

And aware of waste’s energy toll

Now the sugar has travelled from China to Seoul

Then was packaged in Delhi to boot

And the butter flew in from New Zealand and earnt

Several thousand more air miles en route

And the flour was trucked across desert plains

To land in your crumpets and pie

Where you promptly forgot that Small Purchase you got

And it sat in the kitchen to die

And with each little waste that no one did taste

a part of me shrivels inside

this distortion of food versus need does allude

to a glutton of comfort prescribed

It seems so distorted to hear news reported

Of famine and people deprived

When finding that tupperware fare has been thwarted

And growth of black mold has arrived

It is not that I judge, I don’t aim to offend

Though it’s hard to let go every time

All habits can change with the will to amend

And avoid what I see as a crime

Oh harsh! You might say; Helen with your assumption

But how does change come lest with action?

Consumption without simple care finds resumption

And all blame is placed on distraction

I call out to those who have all that they need

To remember first food you possess

And if finding a great deal of wastage may need

To address the neglect of excess

peace

xx