by Bruce Bennett

“A Rural Missouri Town Fights Big Tech, and Itself: Residents of Peculiar battled developers
and some of their local officials to keep a giant data center out of their community.”
—The New York Times

Let’s hear it for Peculiar.
They stood up to Big Tech.
They would not just roll over.
Instead, they gave them heck!

Now they still have their village.
It gives a body joy
to know one has a lifestyle
that others can’t destroy.

They stood up to Goliath
until he stomped away.
Now they have what they fought for—
at least until that day

When someone schemes to profit
and starts to sow new doubt,
and they wake up some morning
to find they’ve been sold out.