a profile of Hiram Larew

By Mike Maggio

Who is Hiram Larew? Ask a scientist and you’ll get one answer. Ask a poet, and you’ll get another. Ask those who are involved in the social justice movement, and you’ll get yet another, for Larew has combined all of these undertakings into a life of civic engagement that is, in some ways, unparalleled. He’s a poet, an entomologist, a social activist, and the founder of Poetry X Hunger, an arts initiative focused on bringing awareness to hunger crises–and how to prevent them–throughout the world.

Hiram’s new book of poetry is featured on DCTRENDING’s first annual Holiday Book List, which includes a wide range of fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and even a kids’ book. If you’re looking for the perfect gift, or the next book you’ll get lost in–all our recommendations are just a click away. 

Appropriately, during the recent Thanksgiving holiday, I had the opportunity to interview Larew about his work. We talked about his writing, how he came to write poetry in the first place, and about his work bringing awareness to hunger and food insecurity around the world. Read on for Hiram’s answers to my eager questions, in his own words.

Tell me about Poetry X Hunger. First, what does the X stand for?  More importantly, why did you found this organization? What impact has it had so far–locally as well as internationally? And what do you hope to accomplish in the future? 

The X stands for X-ing out hunger. [Back in 2017] my intent in founding Poetry X Hunger was to rouse poets to the anti-hunger cause. [Four years later] with help from the United Nations, the Capital Area Food Bank, Maryland Arts Council, Split this Rock and many others–we now have a website showcasing about 250 poems by poets from around the world. And those poems are being used by anti-hunger leaders, teachers, professors, hunger experts, staff at food banks, and many others to speak back to hunger. While poetry may never eliminate hunger, I strongly believe that it can move people to action in the fight to prevent and end hunger.

Your poem "Bread in Hand" speaks about those who produce the food we eat, as well as all those involved in the food supply chain. From the field workers, to the truck drivers, to the grocery baggers. It's a poem of thanks and appreciation, a true thanksgiving of sorts. What led you to write this poem? How has your training as a scientist inspired you as a poet?

“Bread in Hand” was written during the early days of the pandemic in recognition of the all-too-ignored roles that food providers play in keeping food flowing. My work in agriculture has made me that much more appreciative of the bounty we enjoy in the U.S. 

When did you start writing poetry, and what inspired you to do so? Did you have any  formal training in poetics or creative writing?

Thank goodness for high school teachers. They introduced this sprout of a boy to the world of poetry. I was smitten early on. My subsequent “training” has been to attend more than 1,000 readings over the years, and to read work by a wide variety of poets. 

Much of the poetry in Mud Ajar contains echoes of e e cummings: the experimentation with syntax, for example, and the unusual use of language. The line "I've often splotched the dripping downs," from your "Touching Up," reminds me of cummings’ poem "anyone lived in a pretty how town."  Who are your influences? Who are the poets and writers that have helped you develop into the poet you are today?

On discovering cummings’ work, I simply couldn’t believe how he grinned while writing. And how he conveyed so much by his “serious playfulness.” Yes, he was an early influence. As I’ve gone on, the power of internal rhyme and pacing has also been an influence. Overall, I try to enlist the reader in the work of wonder so that a reader leaves the poem afresh and wanting a bit more.  

You have been very active in promoting poetry and the arts in the Washington D.C. area. You developed the Poetry Poster Project in Prince George's County and then lobbied the Maryland House of Delegates to display that project in the Maryland State House. You were also instrumental in establishing the Poet Laureate position in Prince George’s  County. Prince George’s County’s current Poet Laureate, Sistah Joy Alford, has also been featured in DCTRENDING. Why did you spend your time and energy on these projects? How important are they to our society in general, and to the average citizen?

Poetry’s diversity needs to be fully respected. We’ve all attended many poetry events that are too monochromatic–for example all white or all Black [or readings where poets sharing their work are all from one particular group]. And while, of course, those are all fully legitimate, we lose so much richness in insights, awareness, voices and poetic innovations if we don't strive for cross-cultural, cross-racial awareness [and representation] in our poetry community. And so, I’ve tried in various ways to respond. For example, the Poetry Poster Project showcased the amazing work by five African American poets and one Native American poet who, at the time, lived in Prince George’s County. Displayed as artwork at venues around the D.C. area, the Project made the point that poetry in the County is vital, amazingly diverse, robust and full of pride. 

And, to your latter question … Having Sistah Joy serve as the Prince George’s County’s Poet Laureate has been the very best thing possible. Her amazing efforts have showcased the county’s poetry far and wide.

You are retired from the U.S. government but you remain very active in poetry and the arts and in the quest for food security here and abroad. What are your plans for the future? How do you hope DCTRENDING’s readers will see your work and your legacy?

My hope is that those who follow DCTRENDING will use their talents, resources, voices and votes to address hunger, racial injustice, and other important social and environmental issues.  And that poetry will, in whatever ways make sense, be useful to local communities of interested and concerned individuals. In terms of a legacy, I hope to add a bit of wonder to the poetry world at large. 

More about the poet

With an M.S. in botany and a Ph.D. in entomology, Hiram Larew spent more than 20 years working for the U.S. Department of Agriculture–developing models for sustainable agriculture, both in the United States and overseas. But he’s also stepped outside the traditional scientific field. His work promoting the intersection of the arts and sociopolitical awareness of hunger has been recognized locally, by Prince George’s County and the State of Maryland, and internationally, by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

As a poet, Larew has been published in numerous publications in the United States and abroad. He has been nominated four times for a Pushcart Award and serves on the poetry board of the Shakespeare Folger Library. His poems have won competitions in venues such as Louisiana Literature and the Washington Review, and he has been featured on Maryland State Poet Laureate Grace Cavalieri’s Library of Congress radio series, “The Poet and the Poem.”

Mud Ajar (Atmosphere Press, 2021) is Larew’s fifth collection of poetry. The poems within these pages, like all his poems, defy logic and resist syntax, allowing the reader to be transported to a realm which many may not have entered.

Here is a sampling from Mud Ajar:

Succotash

My country so Polly
So jack of all trades
and confetti
This yard sale of nations
with ditches of weeds
and cornfields split open
The tar in my whistles 

My country the talons
and scars over oozing

The sparklers my country that wake up
but ransack what happened
and broad beans that dazzle the mud 

My country all arrows shot heaven
with swearing

My country in sparrows
gone haywire and hobo
The screen doors to wisdom
slammed shut and gone off to
with maps left behind

My country these blackboards of silence
         and mis-spells
My country my country
so flies over pie

SMART DUMB

She was born inside out
the size of a heavy orange.
And the story goes that she was wobbly from the very start.
Even as a little girl
She was so smart and so damn dumb together --
That’s the way sometimes.

Well, wouldn’t you know that
dead solved the problem.
The full story isn’t important
but what is is that at about nineteen or so
she fell jaw drop in love
with someone who just wouldn’t, couldn’t and didn’t.
Someone, like too close to a fire --
Yes, with those kind of eyes.

And the thing was there was no warning her at all.
Not any.

And oh my, the rumors were rich enough to live on.

But here’s the thing really --
She ended up like a tree toppled over
with all the roots up in the air.
Hers was a big sideways life that just never really got
started.
And of course, she’s gone now but is wholly famous.

That’s what starting out with too many wants
will do in an all or nothing sort of way. 
So, the lingery question is this --
Is it truly best to leave nature alone
or invite it in for a chat over dinner?

[This poem was first published by vox poetica.]

If you’d like to read more of Hiram Larew’s work, he’s been featured before on DCTRENDING, as part of our Covid Poetry and Art Project (which I also worked on).

You can hear the poet read aloud two poems from Mud Ajar here. And visit the Poetry X Hunger website to learn more about the poet and the project.

Mike Maggio has published fiction, poetry, reviews, and Arabic translations in journals and anthologies in the United States and abroad. He serves on the board of the Poetry Society of Virginia and as an associate editor of Potomac Review. He is the author of several books of poetry and fiction, most recently a story collection, Letters from Inside. Find him online at www.MikeMaggio.net.