Too Much Progress

When daddy brought the sweet corn in for dinner Mama already had water boiling in the pot. I could hardly wait to taste those buttered kernels From the Golden Bantam ears that Daddy brought. Much later in my life, my farmer husband Planted Jubilee sweet corn as a cash crop. There was always some to spare for our own table And I felt that I could eat that corn, non-stop. Then around fifteen years ago or so, Science started fooling with our corn. They messed around with what had been perfection Of the sweet corn I had loved since I was born. They wanted to give it longer shelf life, So they started splicing genes so it would last Now every ear of corn tastes artificial And all my joy of eating it has passed. I hope somewhere, someone has saved some seed From that delicious corn I used to eat. Autumn has lost all of it special flavor Without corn on the cob, my sweet fall treat. 7/8/12