A Place to Be

A place to be?

From time to time I feel poetic, or at least I like to think I am. This poem came out of some thoughts on the research I am doing and the disconnect between what our rural areas are supposed to be like, producing food and recreation and what it can be like as people leave. On the one hand policymakers are increasing efforts to encourage younger people into farming and on the other hand removing the village infrastructure that makes life in the countryside liveable.

The beauty of the countryside

A Place to Be

How good it is to be in the countryside

A place to relax

A place to relax
A place to hike and swim
A place to heal
A place to be

A place to be?
So how come suicide is so high amongst farmers?
How come alcoholism so rife in the countryside?
A place to be is not enough
A place to be also has to put food on the table
For those who work the land
A place to be also has to provide social contact

A place of solitude is okay for a time
Some can take more than others
But at the end of the day
People still need people

So how come you expect your food to be produced in a vacuum?
By farmers devoid of social care and community
When you rip the heart out of the centre
And remove the school
Where do their children go?
When the jobs disappear from the villages
Where do their children's friends go?
Why should they stay?
In splendid isolation?

A place to be?
Dying
Isolated
Lonely
A place to exist
How long will your "place to be" last?
Without the work and care of its managers
Robots in the fields
Empty
Abandoned
Where will your food come from then?
Will it still be a place to be?

Well?