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Editor’s Note: OMG Poet Laureate Harry Vann Phillips writes that storm clouds are gathering over the once bucolic Old Mission Peninsula. Read on for his poetry. -jb
My Silence is Not Golden – My Life on Old Mission Peninsula
The once quiet,
Disrupted by the shrill,
Of greedy manipulation,
From unwarranted claims,
Impacting us all, damaging at no fault of our own,
My silence,
It is not golden,
To the contrary,
It is very perturbed,
At the disturbance of my peace,
The once bucolic,
Has now become corporate,
The once tranquil,
Has now become disrupted,
It pains me to the core of who I am,
I revel at this place,
The vineyards give me solace,
The orchards provide me with grace,
The people here are the true gift,
I do not take any of them for granted,
My life,
On Old Mission Peninsula,
This place of wonder,
Once placid,
Now a raging unnecessary storm,
Day after day,
The storm clouds gather,
Darkening what was,
The brightest place I ever knew,
Due to the yelling of an alarming few,
At the behest of those,
Who know not what they do,
Their insidious incrementalism,
Wrecking havoc across this domain,
Old Mission Peninsula belongs to many more than just them.
– Harry Vann Phillips
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Harry, your poem speaks directly to me. The love of place, the grief over disruption, the refusal to remain silent — those are my words too, even when I haven’t put them into verse.
I also see a very small group continuing to distort how we arrived here — reshaping timelines, motivations, and impacts in ways that simply don’t match reality. That kind of narrative manipulation is deeply unsettling, especially in a place built on trust and shared stewardship.
Like you, I can see the bigger picture. I can see how incremental changes are softened with reassuring language, how legitimate concerns are reframed as hysteria, and how people who speak up are portrayed as the problem rather than the warning. That isn’t community — that’s gaslighting. Interestingly we are watching the same thing happen across our country: truth blurred, power protected, and ordinary people told not to believe their own eyes or experiences. When that dynamic shows up locally, it’s not isolated — it’s a reflection of something much larger.
My silence isn’t golden either. It comes from paying attention. From listening carefully. From refusing to accept stories that ask us to doubt our own lived experience. Loving this place means being honest about what’s happening to it, even when that honesty is uncomfortable.
🩷
Thank you Cary. Well said.
❤️
Bravo Sir ! In poetry driven by Truth and Grace
I too have the pleasure of being here for over half a century and love the people I know here.
The comfort I take is knowing ultimately it is God’s government here too, karma is real , and our words and intentions are energy active in our being. Be careful to sow Good seeds of intent towards our neighbors and avoid an Unpleasant boomerang experience.
God obviously Blesses your work.
Joe Gorka Peninsula Township
Thank you Joe.
Once again Harry, your few words speak volumes! It hurts when something we love is broken.
Thank you Wendy. I wrote this out of love for what is clearly vanishing. I wish all my friends on OMP nothing but peace.
Oh my goodness, this poem speaks so beautifully and says it all. I cannot tell you how it touched me and echoed my thoughts. Thank you so much for sharing it. It speaks volumes. And it is clear that you wrote this out of love for your neighbors, for this peninsula you’ve called home for years and for what Old Mission Peninsula once was. “The times they are a changing”.
Thank you Katy. Peace.
O’Keefe’s Folly on Old Mission Peninsula has morphed to a near Twilight Zone or Outer Limits twist of truth. Like many others, I am watching the actions of these vineyard outfits with disgust. I’m hopeful the State of Michigan will raise a new exise tax on these tasting room and entertainment venue adult use transactions similar to the new 24% exise tax on another recreational use industry in Michigan.
OMG – we’ve got Russian bots (selling “toning” and “steel abs”) right here on OMP! I think Jane could safely delete “Mary Si”s post!
Thanks, Betsy – deleted! My spam catcher usually does a pretty good job – don’t know why it missed that one.