Letter to Someone Living Fifty Years from Now by Matthew Olzmann

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend April 14, 2017   Letter to Someone Living Fifty Years from Now   Matthew Olzmann

Most likely, you think we hated the elephant, the golden toad, the thylacine and all variations of whale harpooned or hacked into extinction.   It must seem like we sought to leave you nothing but benzene, mercury, the stomachs of seagulls rippled with jet fuel and plastic.    You probably doubt that we were capable of joy, but I assure you we were.   We still had the night sky back then, and like our ancestors, we admired its illuminated doodles of scorpion outlines and upside-down ladles.   Absolutely, there were some forests left! Absolutely, we still had some lakes!   I'm saying, it wasn't all lead paint and sulfur dioxide. There were bees back then, and they pollinated a euphoria of flowers so we might contemplate the great mysteries and finally ask, "Hey guys, what's transcendence?"      And then all the bees were dead.            Copyright © 2017 Matthew Olzmann. Used with permission of the author. About This Poem   "Despite the environmental panic that's now at the heart of this poem, it began as a simple meditation on shifting landscapes. Each time I go home to visit family, I notice how much more has changed: new roads, new stores, bigger buildings. The poem sought to consider these types of changes which can be subtle and barely noticeable, or—when viewed after a significant period of time has passed—immense and stunning." —Matthew Olzmann   Matthew Olzmann is the author of Contradictions in the Design (Alice James Books, 2016). He teaches at Dartmouth College and in the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College. Poetry by Olzmann   Contradictions in the Design (Alice James Books, 2016) "Garden of Bees" by Matthew Rohrer "Hibiscus on the Lake" by Chavali Bangaramma "Poem to the Detroit River" by Terry Wolverton Poem-a-Day   Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends. If you enjoy Poem-a-Day, please consider making a donation to help make it possible. Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.   You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038