By Adriel Pineda
11th grade | Canyon Day Junior High School | Arizona
Finalist in the K–11 contest, Information and AI category

With lines from “India’s Facial Recognition Drive On Hungry Children Is Erasing Them” by Hera Rizwan, a Pulitzer Center-supported story

A faded screen, a photo old,
A child denied, a story told.
Counting meals till the month is through,
Hoping the system will let her through.

Eyes on the worker, silent plea,
The app says, This child cannot be.
A mother waits while cameras scan,
Rejected again by a faceless plan.

“The app doesn’t recognize me,”
Words weighed down by poverty.
A birth certificate out of reach
While hunger grows beyond their speech.

The network breaks, the signal fades,
Another child erased by grades
Of numbers, passwords, codes, and files,
Replacing care with data trials.

But Anganwadi centers stand,
Food prepared by caring hands,
Eggs cut small so all can eat,
Rice divided down the street.

“But how do you tell a child
Not to come where hope is piled?”
The worker asks without a sound
While stretching meals to go around.

The children come with empty plates,
Too young to understand their fates.
They only know the ache inside,
And how long hunger likes to hide.

Though systems fail and screens say “No,”
Compassion finds a way to grow.
Dignity is more than scans.
It lives inside humanity’s hands.

And somewhere past the app’s cold light,
A child still dreams each restless night
That one day food and care will be
A human right for all to see.

Adriel Pineda is an 11th-grade student at Blue Ridge High School in Lakeside, Arizona, who enjoys using poetry to explore real-world issues and inspire compassion. The Pulitzer Center-supported story "India's Facial Recognition Drive on Hungry Children Is Erasing Them" resonated with him because of his own experiences growing up in an immigrant family. Adriel understands the challenges of food insecurity, having relied on food stamps while watching his parents work tirelessly to provide for their family. The story reminded him that, whether in India or in underserved communities across the world, hunger should never be made worse by technology or bureaucracy. Through his poetry, Adriel hopes to give a voice to families facing hardship and encourage others to remember that food, dignity, and compassion are fundamental human rights.

Read more winning entries from the 2026 Fighting Words Poetry Contest.