"American Roots"
Francis Bieschke came
to America with dreams of
a place to put down roots.
He settled in Detroit, and
for the next five generations,
nobody moved more than
fifty miles away.
They became a clan,
neighbors scattered
across nearby blocks.
His descendants built
a house on Mitchell Street
where they watched the city
grow and peak and collapse
all around them.
It became a family joke --
"Some people have feet,
we have roots."