Friends of the Eagan Core Greenway

The Diffleys, a poem



From the documentary, "Turn Here, Sweet Corn"

by Helen De Michiel (copyright, 1990)

An Irish family
150 years on the land
This land
The upper Midwest
Nearer to the city than ever imagined
150 years ago
The land has feeling
Ethical dilemma
A family changing
A family dispersed
Suburbia grows
Martin and Atina
The family's younger generation
Organically farming the family land
Keeping it alive
Making other choices
Loving the land
Working it carefully
Playing its tune
Its silent, giving tune
But its tune is changing
The corn fields are being colonized
By the shopping mall
Not irony
Not nostalgia
Lose the land
Lose our souls
All our souls.



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