“Commencement Speech, Delivered to a Herd of Walrus Calves,” by Matthew Olzmann

Poetry faculty member Matthew Olzmann was recently featured in the Four Way Review. Read an excerpt of “Commencement Speech, Delivered to a Herd of Walrus Calves” below:

Commencement Speech, Delivered to a Herd of Walrus Calves

Young walruses, we all must adapt! For example, 
some of your ancestors gouged the world 
with four tusks, but you can grow only two. 
It’s hard to say what evolution plans for your kind, 
but if given a choice,
you should put in a request for thumbs. 
Anyway, congratulations! You’re entering 
a world that’s increasingly hostile and cruel 
and full of people who’ll never take you seriously
though that will be a mistake on their end. 
You are more tenacious than they know. 
You’ll be a fierce and loyal defender 
of those you love. You will fight polar bears 
when they attack your friends and sometimes you’ll win.
Of course, odds always favor the polar bear, 
but that’s not the point. The point is courage.
The point is bravery. The point is you are all fighters
even when the fight in which you find yourself
ensures unpleasant things will happen to you. 
For example, the bear will gnaw apart your skull 
or neck until you stop that persistent twitching; 
it will eat your skin, all of it, then blubber, then muscle, 
then the tears of your loved ones, in that order; 
it will savor every bite, and you will just 
suffer and suffer until the emptiness can wash over you. 
The good news is: things change! 
For example: the environment. 
Climate change, indeed, is bad for you, 
but it’s worse for polar bears whose conservation status 
is now listed as “vulnerable” which is one step removed 
from “endangered” which is one step removed 
from “extinct” which is a synonym 
for Hooray! None of you get eaten! 

Read the poem in its entirety here: https://fourwayreview.com/commencement-speech-delivered-to-a-herd-of-walrus-calves-by-matthew-olzmann/