>From: "cecil touchon" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>To: "ipdg" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,"collage poetry" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: [noisetext] Information about the Laura Bush poetry event
>Date: Sat, 1 Feb 2003 11:12:33 -0800
>
>Information about the Laura Bush poetry event,
>
> The attached information is about sending something
>along that will be presented at the White House
>as well as the fact that many poets intend to boycott the First
>Lady's event.
>
>------------------------------------------------------
>
>This from the poet Sam Hamill:
>http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22Sam+Hamill%22
>
>January 19, 2003
>
>
>Dear Friends and Fellow Poets:
>
>When I picked up my mail and saw the letter marked "The White House,"
>I felt no joy. Rather I was overcome by a kind of nausea as I read the
>card enclosed:
>
>Laura Bush
>requests the pleasure of your company
>at a reception and
>White House Symposium on
>"Poetry and the American Voice"
>on Wednesday, February 12, 2003
>at one o'clock
>
>Only the day before I had read a lengthy report on the President's
>proposed "Shock and Awe" attack on Iraq, calling for saturation
>bombing that would be like the firebombing of Dresden or Tokyo, killing
>countless innocent civilians.
>
>I believe the only legitimate response to such a morally bankrupt and
>unconscionable idea is to reconstitute a Poets Against the War
>movement like the one organized to speak out against the war in Vietnam.
>
>I am asking every poet to speak up for the conscience of our country
>and lend his or her name to our petition against this war, and to make
>February 12 a day of Poetry Against the War. We will compile an
>anthology of protest to be presented to the White House on that
>afternoon.
>
>Please submit your name and a poem or statement of conscience to:
>
>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>There is little time to organize and compile. I urge you to pass along
>this letter to any poets you know. Please join me in making February
>12 a day when the White House can truly hear the voices of American
>poets.
>
>Sam Hamill
>
>********************************************************
>
>To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited
>site, go
>to http://www.guardian.co.uk
>
>Anti-war poets force scrapping of White House symposium Sarah Left
>Thursday January 30 2003 The Guardian
>
>
>The White House yesterday confirmed that it had cancelled a poetry
>symposiumafter a number of American poets threatened to turn the event into
>an
>anti-war protest.
>
>The February 12 symposium on Poetry and the American Voice, which was
>meantto focus on the works of Emily Dickinson, Langston Hughes and Walt
>Whitman,was one of a number of literary gatherings organised by the first
>lady,Laura Bush.
>
>When Washington-based poet Sam Hamill received an invitation to the
>event,he said he was "overcome by a kind of nausea" and refused to attend.
>Then he decided to email fellow poets, asking them to compose anti-war works
>and urging anyone attending the symposium to read works of protest.
>
>Explaining the cancellation, Noelia Rodriguez, a spokeswoman for Mrs
>Bush, said: "While Mrs Bush respects the right of all Americans to express
>their opinions, she, too, has opinions, and believes it would be
>inappropriate to turn a literary event into a political forum."
>
>A former librarian, the first lady has made teaching and early
>childhood development her signature issues. Her series of White House
>symposiums to salute America's authors have been lively affairs, featuring
>discussions about literature and its impact on society.
>
>No future date for the poetry event has been announced.
>
>Mr Hamill, a co-founder of Copper Canyon Press, set up a website in a
>bid to turn February 12 into Poetry Against the War day. He said that he had
>received poems or personal statements from more than 2,000 poets
>during the last week, and plans to present an anthology of the poems to the
>White
>House.
>
>In an open letter on the site, Mr Hamill explained: "I believe the
>only legitimate response to such a morally bankrupt and unconscionable
>idea is to reconstitute a Poets Against the War movement like the one
>organised
>to speak out against the war in Vietnam."
>
>Contributors have included WS Merwin, Galway Kinnell, Ursula K Le
>Guin, Adrienne Rich and Lawrence Ferlinghetti.
>
>"I'm putting in 18-hour days. I'm 60 and I'm tired, but it's pretty
>wonderful," said Mr Hamill.
>
>Marilyn Nelson, Connecticut's poet laureate, said that she had
>accepted the White House invitation, and had planned to wear a specially-
>commissioned silk scarf with peace signs.
>
>"I had decided to go because I felt my presence would promote peace,"
>she said.
>
>Mr Hamill's more forthright form of protest, however, may have tipped
>the balance for White House planners, however. He told the Seattle
>Times: "What idiot thought Sam Hamill would be a good candidate for Laura
>Bush's
>tea party? Someone's going to get fired over this."
>
>His is not the only protest in verse. Canadian poet Todd Swift took
>only one week to compile an ebook, 100 Poets Against the War, which he
>released on Monday to mark the report by weapons inspectors to the UN
>security
>council.
>
>"We're trying to create something that is like the Vietnam war
>protest," said Mr Swift, speaking from his home in Paris. He said he was
>amazed
>by how quickly the collection had spread around the world.
>
>"About 25 of the poets in the collection are from the UK or Ireland,
>and we are adding John Kinsella and a few others this weekend to the revised
>version, which will be released next Monday to meet Mr Blair on his
>return from Bush's ranch," he added.
>
>Contributors to the ebook include George Murray, Ethan Gilsdorf and
>Maggie Helwig.
>
>State of the Union, 2003
>
>
>I have not been to Jerusalem,
>but Shirley talks about the bombs.
>I have no god, but have seen the children praying
>for it to stop. They pray to different gods.
>The news is all old news again, repeated
>like a bad habit, cheap tobacco, the social lie.
>
>
>The children have seen so much death
>that death means nothing to them now.
>They wait in line for bread.
>They wait in line for water.
>Their eyes are black moons reflecting emptiness.
>We've seen them a thousand times.
>
>
>Soon, the president will speak.
>He will have something to say about bombs
>and freedom and our way of life.
>I will turn the TV off. I always do.
>Because I can't bear to look
>at the monuments in his eyes.
>
>
>Sam Hamill
>
>Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited
>
>
>
>
>
