The EE Sampler - Jefferson County Public Schools

The Change of “My Roots”
I am this landscape, the land where you live, soil and dirt.
I’m hill and river; bearer of plant roots, shelter of life.
I want you to know, my great tale of change, transformation.
How I became as, the home that you know, your America.
Hundreds of years back, I gained new species, known well to you.
I am saying gain, because they weren’t here, not to be seen.
They were brought by boats, those that brought white men, Europeans.
These people settled, and so did their beasts, both large and small.
The settlers didn’t know, nor understand me, and they struggled.
So they molded me, changed my makeup, I was altered.
They brought their livestock, their beasts of burden, to graze my grass.
Brought were cows and pigs, the horses and sheep, goats and chickens.
Domestic species, these I’m speaking of, so new and strange.
Also brought were gardens, their fruits and flowers, and many foods.
I had no peaches, growing in Georgia, no wild type trees.
I had no oranges, no orchards of orange, no Florida’s best.
No dandelions: that small yellow weed, bright in summer.
Wheat fields filled me up; rice embedded me, from north to south.
They brought insects here, invading creatures, making me home.
The fruits could flourish, thanks to honeybees, pollinators.
The boats brought soil, European dirt, to mix with me.
The newest creature, slimy writhing thing, was the earthworm.
These worms were the worst; they changed my soil, my forest land.
They eat my foliage, making my trees starve, my shrubs shrivel.
Like a brute sculptor, pressing his thumbs in, digging deeper.
He pressed my cheeks, my mountain shoulders, and my cave feet.
Cutting species out, from the swampy vines, of my long hair,
I changed forever; my billion-year self, became Europe!
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