[Kate Benedict]

Back in the early 90s, SO's work struck me like a lightning bolt too and she is one of two major poets to whom I have written fan letters. As the years went by, that lightning bolt cooled a bit, but still I admire her opus overall. No one has written more powerfully about the human life cycle or the human condition of enfleshment.

But I’ve got to agree with Bob, who pointed out on Facebook this morning that they just greased the palm of a former chancellor and a poet "whose career does not need any further boost either in terms of financial backing or recognition.” Here’s Wikipedia’s list of her honorifics, including a 25K grant from the very same Academy:

• 1981-1982 Guggenheim Fellowship, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation[28]
• 1982-1983 National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship[29]
• 1983 The Dead and the Living Lamont Poetry Prize, and the National Book Critics Circle Award.
• 1992 The Father, shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize and was a finalist for The National Book Critics Circle Award.[5][11][30]
• 1993-1996 Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Writers Award [31]
• 1998-2000 New York State Poet Laureate [32]
• 2002 Academy of American Poets Fellowship [33]
• 2002 The Unswept Room, Nominee for National Book Award in the Poetry category [34]
• 2003 Judge, Griffin Poetry Prize; for “distinguished poetic achievement at mid-career”[35]
• 2004 Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Awards [36]
• 2004 Became member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences [37]
• 2006-2012 Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets [38]
• 2009 One Secret Thing, shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize[39] and the Forward Prize [40]
• 2012 T.S. Eliot Prize, Stag's Leap [18]
• 2012 Stag’s Leap, named as one of “Oprah’s Favorite Reads of 2012” [41]
• 2013 Pulitzer Prize, Stag's Leap [42]
• 2014 Donald Hall-Jane Kenyon Prize in American Poetry [43]
• 2015 Elected to become a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters

So what’s the moral of the story.? Them that’s got shall get, them that’s not shall lose, ever after, Amen. And no one will save a wretch like me!

[john savoie]

Olds has a number of poems that I've enjoyed, many more that leave me unimpressed. It's the Academy I find ludicrous. Yes, they take turns giving prizes to each other, but it's the membership drives that astound me most. They would give prizes to each other with my money, or so they plan.

I don't mind other groups, such as the MacArthur, giving huge prizes that one cannot apply for. As far as I know, it is their money to spend as they wish.

Quite a few years ago I beheld a very vivid dream (if you've heard this story before, stop me--oops, too late) of a shrine up on a hill, and earnest poets were making the long pilgrimage, and leaving offerings to the Muse in a jar. Then a somewhat mentor of mine came by, approached the offering jar, winked at me, saying, "You don't pay the Muse, the Muse pays you," then reached into the jar to gather the collection unto himself, and walked off. Yes, in reality, he won major prizes from the Academy.

[Jayne Osborn]

Those of us in very little ole England marvel at the size of many things in the USA: your national parks, your roads, your cars (not as big nowadays as they used to be, admittedly), your shopping malls, your restaurant meals . . .

I can't comment on Sharon Olds' work as I'm not familiar with it, but it's mind-boggling that such a huge amount of money could be awarded to a poet.
Like Kate, I have to agree with Bob that "[her] career does not need any further boost either in terms of financial backing or recognition.”

It would be nice if she were to make a generous donation to a worthwhile charity, or something.

In the UK the equivalent of $6-7K is considered a big award for poetry.

Jayne