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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 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:
kokua@olympus.net There is little time to organize and compile. I urge you to pass alon 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
kokua@olympus.net

Ref
http://www.poets.org/poets/poets.cfm?prmID=750