“Letter to the Person Who Carved His Initials into the Oldest Living Longleaf Pine in North America” by faculty member Matthew Olzmann (poetry ’09)
An excerpt from “Letter to the Person Who Carved His Initials into the Oldest Living Longleaf Pine in North America” by faculty member Matthew Olzmann (poetry ’09) published by Tin House.
Letter to the Person Who Carved His Initials into the Oldest Living Longleaf Pine in North America
Tell me what it’s like to live without
curiosity, without awe. To sail
on clear water, rolling your eyes
at the kelp reefs swaying
beneath you, ignoring the flicker
of mermaid scales in the mist,
looking at the world and feeling
only boredom. To stand
on the precipice of some wild valley,
the eagles circling, a herd of caribou
booming below, and to yawn
with indifference. To discover
something primordial and holy.
