CORRESPONDENCE.

From Olympus, to a poet

My compliments to Carol Hamilton on the presentation of her poem, "Becoming Light" [August 13]. This piece integrated Eurocentric tradition with multicultural metaphor, the cumbersome physical contrasted with carefree ethereal.

The lines, "even as the flesh draws down, flattens...we must levitate, glide across that distance," may be grasped alike by a holy man in India or a Catholic in Kansas. Lyrical ecumenicity takes for granted talent.

I proffer this unsolicited critique in the hope that aspiring poets may persevere. It ought be known that self-appointed critics, like mythic gods, will occasionally give the nod.

william dauenhauer

Wickliffe, Ohio 

Reaching the heights

Recently I asked you to consider publishing my story about my cousin Julia Canny, Irish survivor of Hiroshima. You declined, but I really appreciated the courtesy of your reply. I submitted the article to fourteen publications. Nine were silent, three (including you) replied negatively, one signaled "maybe," and one-the Western People, a newspaper serving the west of Ireland-chose to run with it. They even published three of my photographs. The editor wanted to know my fee for the piece. Knowing it would be, at best, in the low hundreds, I played the big shot, telling them to give my honorarium to a charity of their choice. I'm told their favorite charity is Western Care, which will receive the sum of fifty dollars.

So there you have it. I'm now an international reporter, a photojournalist, and a philanthropist. Despite my new eminence, I'm still grateful for the courtesy of your reply. Thanks.

ed murphy

Falls Church, Va.

The one true faith

I subscribed to your periodical in 1950 but canceled my subscription in the early 1990s because I was more and more unhappy with the direction the magazine was taking. Recently, after accepting your offer of a free short-term subscription, I read the issue of August 13 and would like to tell you what I think. It is incomprehensible to me that you could implicitly designate Kevin Doyle as a hero when your writer reports that Doyle quit the Democratic party "because of its unyielding prochoice platform."

The Democratic party in recent years has increased the minimum wage, has tried to give tax benefits to the poor, has fought the huge tax cuts planned by Republicans that would primarily benefit the wealthy, has pushed for more gun control, and has worked to protect Social Security and Medicare and to expand health care to all. The gentleman you praised as "a lawyer with Catholic convictions" has in reality "strained out the gnat and swallowed the camel."

The strongest biblical condemnations have always been directed against those who sin against justice, who deprive the widows and the orphans and the poor of what they need for survival. How can you pat a man on the back for such a disjointed set of values? william j. wiedner

Elk Grove, Calif.

From the editors: It was easy. As the article ["Doyle for the Defense"] makes clear, Kevin Doyle's values include a belief that a death-row inmate may need a lawyer for survival, and a conviction that infants in the womb may need an advocate to survive. Without asking him, we suspect Doyle favors tax breaks for the poor, gun control, protection for Social Security and Medicare, a fair tax system, and a boost in the minimum wage. Finally, we have word from a source in a very high place that not all its residents are Democrats.