Tag Archives: urban sprawl

“Losing Ground”

Posted on May 29, 2019 by John | 4 comments

I am pleased and proud to have some of my poetry as a part of this moving and powerful documentary from the American Angus Association.

“Losing Ground”

Farmers and ranchers across the country are dealing with increasing urbanization of rural America. With that urbanization brings challenges and opportunities. Hear from five Angus farm and ranch families, including: Lovin family, Lexington, Georgia; Marsh family, Huntley, Illinois, Stabler family, Brookeville, Maryland; and the Cropp family, Damascus, Maryland, about how urban sprawl has impacted them and American Farmland Trust CEO John Piotti about the issue as a whole. The American Angus Association® is proud to present the first film to expose the impact of urban sprawl on American Agriculture – “Losing Ground”—an I Am Angus production.
-Rachel Robinson

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Posted in Photographs, Ranch Journal, Video

Tagged American Angus Association, photography, poetry, urban sprawl

THE LAST GASP OF MANIFEST DESTINY

Posted on September 18, 2018 by John | 8 comments

Rivers of cars and trucks compressed
between houses stacked like cordwood,
between parking lots and mini-malls
ready to serve anonymous strangers

usurp more earth, sterilize and seal it
from the sun and rain—level the landmarks
for living histories of neighbors and families
lending a hand, sharing labor, teaching

one another how to give and live together
without the siren’s wail I hear
in the shrinking distance—from the lights
at night that blot out constellations.

My anger has become a sad acceptance
of human ambition, the relentless waves
of wealth and debt that may go hungry with
no landscapes left to feed their souls or flesh.