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Mrs. Bush Opens 3rd Nat'l Book Festival (MUST READ PRESIDENT'S POEM TO LAURA)
Kansas.com ^ | 10/03/03 | SIOBHAN McDONOUGH

Posted on 10/03/2003 9:35:44 PM PDT by Jewels1091

WASHINGTON - Laura Bush says her husband is a poet even if, uh, Americans don't know it.

At a gala Friday night kicking off this weekend's third National Book Festival, Mrs. Bush celebrated the written word in an age of visual media, thanking American authors for their "tales of mystery, history and heroism."

"A good book is like an unreachable itch; you just can't leave it alone," she said at the Library of Congress, repository of 126 million books, recordings, photographs, maps, manuscripts and more.

She revealed that President Bush had penned a poem for her when she got back from a five-day solo trip to Europe, where she attended a book festival in Moscow and visited France - getting two kisses on the hand from French President Jacques Chirac.

"President Bush is a great leader and a husband, but I bet you didn't know he is also quite the poet," she said. "Upon returning home last night from my long trip I found a lovely poem waiting there for me."

As her husband watched quietly, she recited it.

"Roses are red/Violets are blue/Oh my, lump in the bed/How I've missed you."

Bush sometimes refers to his wife as a lump in the bed.

Mrs. Bush went on:

"Roses are redder/Bluer am I/Seeing you kissed by that charming French guy."

And then the finale:

"The dogs and the cat, they missed you too/Barney's still mad you dropped him, he ate your shoe/The distance, my dear, has been such a barrier/Next time you want an adventure, just land on a carrier."

Barney the dog had a tumble when Mrs. Bush was handing him to her husband on a tarmac.

James H. Billington, the librarian of Congress, called Mrs. Bush "first reader of our land" for her work on behalf of literacy and reading. The first lady is a former librarian and teacher, and the book festival is modeled after those she started in Texas when her husband was governor.

"Stories beckon us to toss all the cares in the world - work, even sleep - to read and discover," she said.

Novelist Tom Clancy, Cherokee storyteller Gayle Ross, nonfiction author and novelist Stephen L. Carter, CBS newsman Bob Schieffer and actress Julie Andrews, who writes children's books, joined Mrs. Bush in launching the festival.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bookfestival; bush43; laurabush; loc; poet; tomclancy
That is SSSSSSSOOOOOOO sweet!!!!
1 posted on 10/03/2003 9:35:44 PM PDT by Jewels1091
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2 posted on 10/03/2003 9:37:10 PM PDT by Support Free Republic (Your support keeps Free Republic going strong!)
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To: rintense; Howlin; ohioWfan; DrDeb; Bahbah
Don't miss this! ROFLOL! How I love our first couple!
3 posted on 10/03/2003 9:47:38 PM PDT by hoosiermama (.Prayers for all)
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To: Jewels1091
Sweet...yes.

Appropriate for public dissemination???

If I wrote my wife a sappy poem like that and she went public with it...one of us would end up with a black eye before it was over!

4 posted on 10/03/2003 9:50:37 PM PDT by Onelifetogive
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To: Onelifetogive
The poems were jokes that were part of Laura's speech. I don't think that the President really wrote them.
5 posted on 10/03/2003 9:52:26 PM PDT by usedtolurk
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To: Jewels1091
That's hysterical!
6 posted on 10/04/2003 3:39:05 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: usedtolurk
Oh, I'll bet he did! I don't think a speechwriter would come up with the 'lump in the bed' line, do you?? LOL!
7 posted on 10/04/2003 6:30:42 AM PDT by ohioWfan (Have you prayed for your President today?)
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To: hoosiermama; Miss Marple; mtngrl@vrwc; Wphile; kitkat; kayak; GretchenEE; MJY1288; DrDeb; ...
Happy First Couple ping!

(Thanks hoosiermama and Jewels.....funny article!)

8 posted on 10/04/2003 6:35:08 AM PDT by ohioWfan (Have you prayed for your President today?)
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To: Jewels1091
A couple of photos of the moments referred to in the poem......:o)


9 posted on 10/04/2003 6:40:45 AM PDT by ohioWfan (Have you prayed for your President today?)
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To: Jewels1091
That is SO funny!! They are such a great couple, and we are blessed to have them in the White House!!
10 posted on 10/04/2003 6:47:37 AM PDT by SuziQ
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To: Jewels1091
WOW! I was just looking around, and found these photos of our beautiful First Lady at this event.......

(Is it going to be shown on CSpan again?)


11 posted on 10/04/2003 6:53:16 AM PDT by ohioWfan (Have you prayed for your President today?)
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To: Jewels1091
Thanks for making me smile, Jewels! The poem is really cute and sounds just like President Bush. The feminazis will hate it and the press will criticize him for it but it really doesn't matter. It will go over well with regular folks. :-)
12 posted on 10/04/2003 6:57:36 AM PDT by Wait4Truth
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To: ohioWfan
THe President definitely referred to her as a "lump in the bed" in a speech. But I tend to think that the poem was Laura's way of teasing him right back.
13 posted on 10/04/2003 7:53:34 AM PDT by usedtolurk
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To: usedtolurk
Maybe a joint venture???

Just to give the press a hard time, and the Feminazis (like Ellen Goodman) who gave him a hard time when he called her that a few weeks back??

14 posted on 10/04/2003 7:58:19 AM PDT by ohioWfan (Have you prayed for your President today?)
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To: ohioWfan
OK, joint venture it is.

The poem does show that Laura wasn't as perturbed about the comment as Goodman would have wanted, and that Goodman takes herself way too seriously and needs to lighten up.
15 posted on 10/04/2003 8:00:56 AM PDT by usedtolurk
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