
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, May 26, 1995                   TAG: 9505260099
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LISA K. GARCIA
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

POETS, ARTISTS ADDRESS HUNGER

A silver platter was crowned with Doubletree chocolate chip cookies. Nearby sat a silver bowl filled with fruit. No one in the room was hungry - but the poetry and art spoke of hunger.

Poets gathered Thursday night at Hotel Roanoke to accept awards in the 39 Poets & Artists Against Hunger contest begun by the Southwestern Virginia Second Harvest FoodBank.

Linda Jenkins, a recent Hollins College graduate, won first place with her poem ``Sticks and Stones, Skin and Bones.''

The poem portrays a child's frustration over hunger and her wondering why God and her father cannot feed her. Jenkins said she went hungry, but remembers ``that element of doing without.'' She said children are quick to blame their parents at these times.

The poem concludes with the father's frustration: ``The sky rains stones, and the children - skinny as snakes or staves - grab them by the handful. What shall I do? Daddy cries to the sky, I believe they will stone me.''

Wendy Scott, an Averett College student, won second place with her work ``Between The Lines.'' She said poetry is ``the feeling behind the word and the sound it makes when you say it.''

``There's no research you can do,'' Scott said about her creation.

Third place went to Sharon Eves, Virginia Western Community College, for ``RFD.'' First place in the professor category went to Jeff Mann of Virginia Tech for ``The Harvest of Motes.''

Michael Santoroski, business manager for the food bank, said the event was created to tap into the creativity of students at local colleges and universities.

by CNB