Poet Laureate Declares
Opposition to War in Iraq
U.S. poet laureate Billy Collins—appointed to the post in 2001 by Librarian of Congress James Billington—has publicly declared his opposition to war with Iraq, saying that he finds it increasingly difficult to keep politics out of his official job as a literary and library advocate.
Collins added his voice to a chorus of poets and writers whose objections to the war gained momentum after First Lady Laura Bush canceled a February 12 White House poetry symposium fearing it might become a forum for antiwar protest. Former poets laureate Stanley Kunitz and Rita Dove were among those who refused to attend the symposium. Others turned the date into a National Day of Poetry Against the War over the Internet.
“I have to keep the West Wing and the East Wing of the White House as separate as possible because I support what Mrs. Bush has done for the causes of literacy and reading. But as this country is being pushed into a violent confrontation, I find it increasingly difficult to maintain that separation,” Collins told the Associated Press.
The official word from the Library of Congress: “Mr. Collins is free to express his own opinions on any subject.”
Posted February 17, 2003.
|
