Sharon Olds

Overview

Sharon Olds born San Francisco, CA November 19, 1942. American poet. Inspired by anti-Vietnam women poets. “May 1968” recreated resistance to Vietnam War; “The Dead and the Living” lamented Armenian genocide, 1983.

Quotations

On refusing the First Lady's dinner invitation: “[T]o speak about my deep feeling that we should not have invaded Iraq, and to declare my belief that the wish to invade another culture and another country—with the resultant loss of life and limb for our brave soldiers, and for the noncombatants in their home terrain—did not come out of our democracy but was instead a decision made "at the top" and forced on the people by distorted language, and by untruths. I hoped to express the fear that we have begun to live in the shadows of tyranny and religious chauvinism—the opposites of the liberty, tolerance and diversity our nation aspires to. . . 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.” (The Nation, Oct. 10, 2005; photo vogue.com)