Brava! Sharon Olds

This week's Nation online offers the full text of poet Sharon Olds' eloquent refusal of Laura Bush's invitation to participate in the this year's National Book Festival. The festival is timed, the editors note, to coincide/conflict with a huge anti-war action on September 24. I quote Olds' devastating close below. Count on a poet to make every word count. The whole letter, linked to above, is worth your time:

"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.

So many Americans who had felt pride in our country now feel anguish and shame, for the current regime of blood, wounds and fire. I thought of the clean linens at your table, the shining knives and the flames of the candles, and I could not stomach it."

Olds acknowledges regretting, a bit, losing the opportunity to attract new readers. Any writer would. But she makes her principled stand nonetheless. It'd be nice if she sold a few books on the 24th, wouldn't it? I see that Strike Sparks: Selected Poems 1980-2002 is only $11.53 at Amazon.com and $15.24 (members) at barnesandnoble.com. Nice price. Attractive cover, too.