Poet Declies to Dine at White House

The Nation has published an eloquent letter by the poet Shannon Olds to Laura Bush in which she explains to the First Lady why she is declining to read at the National Book Festival, attend a dinner at the Library of Congress, or eat breakfast at the White Houuse. Here's the close of the letter:

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.

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.

Nicely put, Ms. Olds. Obviously such symbolic gestures are invisible to the President, who was oblivious to the chaos and misery in New Orleans until his aids finally sat him down in front of a TV, but one wonders whether the First Lady is aware of the suffering that her husband's adminstration has contributed to directly through its reckless policies. If so, does she have anything resembling a guilty conscience?

Read Sharon Olds' letter in its entirety online at The Nation: No Place for a Poet at a Banquet of Shame.