Speaker Bruce Dethlefsen’s Commencement Speech

I'm honored to be here today as part of the celebration of your graduation. Thanks for inviting me but mostly thank you for accomplishing what you have done to better yourself. When you do, you better your family and your community. You make my community—our community-- a better place.

Kurt Vonnegut Jr., a writer and one of my heroes, asked what should young people do with their lives today. Many things, obviously, but the most daring thing is to create stable communities in which the terrible disease of loneliness can be cured.

Here's a poem I wrote from the perspective of a teenage girl. It's called Flowers at Risk.

If someone will watch the baby

And my check comes in tomorrow

I can go downtown and plant some flowers

It won't cost much

And I'll still have some money left for prom

But who knows maybe Steve won't even be around

And mom's no help

Sure she's out but she's more interested in the bars

And at thirty-four next week

she's getting pretty tired

I'm thinking some long green vines

A couple of those spiky things

And a few petunias ought to do

Just a little color

Something finally growing down there
maybe between the bank and the video place

Sure I know new flowers are at risk

But they're worth it

And they need a little water and some sunshine

And somebody to watch over them

From time to time

Welcome to the community. It's time now for you graduates to step up and take responsibility. Get a job. Pay taxes. And vote. We need you to speak up. Share your opinion and fight against unfairness and injustice. We take care of each other.

Here's a poem by Ted Kooser "Boardinghouse"

The blind man draws his curtains for the night
and goes to bed, leaving a burning light

above the bathroom mirror. Through the wall,
he hears the deaf man walking down the hall

in his squeaky shoes to see if there's a light
under the blind man's door, and all is right.

Also remember who you are and where you can from.."Missing a Spot."

I wipe and dry the casserole dish
that fancy one with the see-through glass cover
and as I reach to put it in the cupboard
I discover I remember aunt Nancy

now she's been gone forever
yet there she was
in the kitchen telling me
I missed a spot

they never really ever
go away do they

one touch recalls a thought
a thought a notion
the notion a feeling
the feeling an emotion

so then we cry or not or smile
mostly somewhere in between

and when you go
waterfall everything
will remind me of you

And as you remember, please remember the arts. Sure, America is based on business and that's all well and good for progress but it's the arts that make us human. The musicians, the painters, the sculptors, the dancers, the writers, and the poets. You have my permission to be an artist. We need you. If you can't be an artist, fine. Support the arts. The community will be a better place for you and your family. Oh yeah, love and support libraries. We know that libraries save lives.

As poet laureate of Wisconsin, I visit schools. One middle school students asked me a question: Am I wealthy? After my reading, a very serious sixth grade girl asked me if I was wealthy. Well, I said, I have twenty-two dollars in my wallet right now, my purple truck has 235,000 miles on it. I'm wearing clean and mended clothes, I'll sleep in a warm bed tonight, I've got my health, my hands, my eyes, my family and friends who love me. And I can come here to Sennett Middle school to read poetry to you guys for free. So, yes, I'm very wealthy. Very wealthy, indeed.

Here's a poem I wrote to help guides poets in their work and I think you can apply it to whatever you decide to do: "The Way of the Poet Warrior" (for Thomas Lux) and it begins with an epigram from the movie "Bang the Drum Slowly."

throw the ball back to the pitcher better
pay perfect attention to what's going on
what's going under
and what's going on under

question everything that moves
interrogate everything that doesn't

daydream deliberately
use your x-ray vision
but pay no attention to those little editors
behind the curtain

shower and sleep with pen and paper
don't let the big one get away

keep your antenna up
but if the voices get too bad
wear a square of aluminum foil
under your watch cap

learn each rule then break each rule
be prepared to read anything
anytime anywhere for nothing

learn humility
what do you think you're some kind of genius?
there's always a faster gun in town

when you're with others
try to act normal
as if all this matters somehow
walk as though you have somewhere to go
when you're alone float for all I care

connect the strings you see
that flutter in the wind
eat bruised fruit
howl at the moon from time to time

dance with everyone
even before you hear the music come

learn another language
memorize

know that although it seems like it
not everything is poetry

understand that one average plumber
is worth five good doctors
or three great poets

in short pay attention
write better
and yes the flying dreams are the best

Be sure to thank your folks and teachers. I wish you health, I wish you compassion and public happiness. You are not alone. Here's a poem by John Donne "No Man is an island."

No man is an island entire of itself; every man
is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe
is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as
well as a manor of thy friends or of thine
own were; any man's death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

Can you hear it? You belong in our community. Welcome, again. Now, take a little break, celebrate, and get to work.

I'll finish with a poem. That's what poets do…they start with poems, too.

Artists (for Denise)

we chase the moon
too hard sometimes
and stumble in the stars

that sparkle always blinds us
we trip and tumble down
we suffocate in stardust
drown in floodlight

and still we recreate
we sing     we write
we dance     we paint
we one more time in space
ourselves remake

return     retune

gracefully we rise again
we're artists
grateful for another dreadful chance
to chase the moon

Thank you very much.

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ABOUT THIS STORY:

Story Status: Archived
Publish date: 5/14/2012

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