A dot on the map,
Another town with an odd name,
A place people pass through,
Ignored on their way somewhere else.
This was years ago;
O’ the town is still there,
But gone is its charm.
Gone are the things I loved most about it,
Gone are the wonderful pines
Standing tall next to Beal’s Hardware Store.
Gone is the pure cedar creek,
Gone are the open spaces,
Gone are the mom and pop stores dotting Main Street,
Gone are quaint family owned restaurants,
Gone is Porcellini’s Farm Market and Nursery,
Gone is Armand’s Auto Body,
Gone is Duffy’s Yacht Bar,
Gone is the wildlife preserve,
Gone are the wetlands,
Gone is the egret,
Gone are the scenic views unless you can afford them,
Gone are the commercial fishermen and clammers,
Their way of life is dying.
The pines have been bulldozed for Walmart,
Beal’s shuttered because they couldn’t compete with Home Depot,
Porcellini’s wilted and blew away
Armand passed and no one wanted to take up his fight
Duffy’s dried up under the pressure of Applebee’s,
A beautiful way of life was strangled and buried,
Caving in under the weight of corporations.
They don’t care about us…profits are their only friend.
We see it happen everyday,
In small towns all across America.
Towns founded on long time local businesses
Bankrupt because they can’t compete.
Local people forced to settle for less and pay more.
Some say, “If they don’t come here they will just go somewhere else”.
“What about the jobs?”
What about them?
Maybe you would have to commute to work,
But at least our town would still be–our town,
A place we would be proud to call home.
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
~
Poetry Prompt #2 – The Places We Are by We Drink Because We’re Poets
Dom DiFrancesco 
Oh, the sting of time that swiftly passes and stings and remodels everything we thought we owned.
I could feel the longing and the memories swelling from your words.
Thank you very much for participating in the prompt!
It was a pleasure to participate, I wrote this one with a great deal of sadness in my heart for what is no more. I realize that I am not alone in this feeling, but yet it makes it no less painful.
A truly bittersweet piece; they say that progress is inevitable but far too often what looks like progress, initially, turns out to be degradation and regression….sadly.
Very true my friend. That is how I view the changes in my home town. They seem to have lost far more than they have gained, sad, but true.
i understand that time passes by, things change and life progresses – but it still does not make the sadness go away of what was. i try to rationalize it and look at the progress as a good thing but, well, as you know, i am not good at letting go.
I suppose that we all carry things with us through our years, but there are some things that I don’t consider progress instead they are a step back.
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So sad…
It is, it changes so drastically every time I go back, that I scarcely recognize the place where I grew up.
Lovely Poem. Sad and True.
Thank you, it does sadden me to see this happen, especially to someplace that I love.
Reminiscent … the place you call home will always exist in your heart. :-) Thank you for following my blog.
How true though unfortunately something don’t stay the same as we remember them, some call it progress.