Fair Trade USA is a non-profit organization that promotes and certifies fair trade products.  I recently started following their blog, which is a great way to stay current on “fair trade news” & learn about new fair trade products.  Their blog is also the place I found out about this contest:  Fair Trade USA is hosting a poetry contest to help them win a nonprofit grant.  Plus whether they win the grant or not, they’re choosing a winner who will receive a bag full of fair trade goodies.  So how could I not enter?  A chance to help Fair Trade USA earn money & the possibility of winning some fair trade products for myself!   Besides, I’m an English teacher; I’m supposed to be into stuff like this.

As many of you know, I’m pretty into fair trade chocolate – probably because I’m pretty into chocolate.  I can’t believe the stories of injustice behind the chocolate that we eat without a second thought.  So I wanted my poem to reflect the need for change in the chocolate industry.    It’s an attempt to show the contrast of an American child & a child enslaved on a cocoa farm. (It can be read straight across or one column at a time.)  Without further ado, here’s the poem:

Check out Fair Trade USA’s website, blog, and don’t forget to enter their poetry contest by the end of the week on facebook!