White House Cancels Poetry Symposium:

“Two former U.S. poet laureates criticized the White House on Thursday for postponing a literary symposium it believed would be politicized. Stanley Kunitz and Rita Dove characterized the decision as an example of the Bush administration’s hostility to dissenting or creative voices.

The Feb. 12 symposium on “Poetry and the American Voice” was to have featured the works of Emily Dickinson, Langston Hughes and Walt Whitman. The postponement was announced Wednesday and no future date has been set for the event, to be held by first lady Laura Bush.” Austin American-Statesman

I propose that like-minded webloggers (close kin to poets in sensibilities…) enact their scorn for the Administration’s fear of free speech and honor the memories of Whitman, Dickinson and Hughes by featuring their poetry prominently in the days between now and Feb. 12th.