a lovely letter from a poet to our first lady

No Place for a Poet at a Banquet of Shame
Sharon Olds
For reasons spelled out below, the poet Sharon Olds has declined to attend the National Book Festival in Washington, which, coincidentally or not, takes place September 24, the day of an antiwar mobilization in the capital. Olds, winner of a National Book Critics Circle Award and professor of creative writing at New York University, was invited along with a number of other writers by First Lady Laura Bush to read from their works. Three years ago artist Jules Feiffer declined to attend the festival's White House breakfast as a protest against the Iraq War ("Mr. Feiffer Regrets," November 11, 2002). We suggest that invitees to this year's event consider following their example. --The Editors

Laura Bush First LadyThe White House
Dear Mrs. Bush,
I am writing to let
you know why I am not able to accept your kind invitation to give a presentation
at the National Book Festival on September 24, or to attend your dinner at the
Library of Congress or the breakfast at the White House. In one way, it's a very
appealing invitation. The idea of speaking at a festival attended by 85,000
people is inspiring! The possibility of finding new readers is exciting for a
poet in personal terms, and in terms of the desire that poetry serve its
constituents--all of us who need the pleasure, and the inner and outer news, it
delivers.
And the concept of a community of readers and writers has long
been dear to my heart. As a professor of creative writing in the graduate school
of a major university, I have had the chance to be a part of some magnificent
outreach writing workshops in which our students have become teachers. Over the
years, they have taught in a variety of settings: a women's prison, several New
York City public high schools, an oncology ward for children. Our initial
program, at a 900-bed state hospital for the severely physically challenged, has
been running now for twenty years, creating along the way lasting friendships
between young MFA candidates and their students--long-term residents at the
hospital who, in their humor, courage and wisdom, become our teachers.
...............................I tried to see my way clear to attend the festival in order to bear witness--as an American who loves her country and its principles and its writing--against this undeclared and devastating war.
But I could not face the idea of breaking bread with you. I knew that if I sat down to eat with you, it would feel to me as if I were condoning what I see to be the wild, highhanded actions of the Bush Administration.
What kept coming to the fore of my mind was that I would be taking food from the hand of the First Lady who represents the Administration that unleashed this war and that wills its continuation, even to the extent of permitting "extraordinary rendition": flying people to other countries where they will be tortured for us. .................