“Letter to the Person Who Carved His Initials into the Oldest Living Long Leaf Pine in North America” by Matthew Olzmann (2019)

Like “Letter to Someone Living Fifty Years from Now,” this poem is written as a letter and addresses issues of environmental degradation. This letter is written to a specific person, not the hypothetical “person living fifty years from now” but presumably a person who is still alive and who carved his initials into the oldest longleaf pine in North America. Both poems lament what humans are doing to the environment.

“Letter to Matthew Olzmann Sent Telepathically by a Flock of Pigeons Surrounding Him on a Park Bench in Detroit” by Matthew Olzmann (2022)

This poem comes from Olzmann’s book Constellation Route and deals with issues of climate change, food insecurity, war, industrialization, and other social issues, all from the point of view of a flock of pigeons. Unlike “Letter to Someone Living Fifty Years from Now,” this poem is arguably much funnier, characterizing the pigeons as angry creatures harassing Olzmann because he is eating a BLT and won’t share it with them. This longer, funnier poem is more typical of Olzmann’s work, dealing with serious subjects in more irreverent ways.