October 22, 1997 Cindy Fluitt, Producer Goodby, Silverstein & Partners 720 California Street San Francisco,

CA 94108 Re: Nike Poetry Slam Dear Ms. Fluitt: This is a letter in response to your correspondence concerning the Nike Poetry Slam and my proposed participation. I could reject your offer based on the fact that your deadline is ludicrous (i.e., ten days from the above date). A poem is not a pop tart. I could reject your offer based on the fact that I would not be free to write whatever I want, notwithstanding your assurances to the contrary, since I must "keep in mind TV network standards and practices regarding content and language." You clearly have no idea what the word "censorship" means. Where, as you put it, "the mechanics of commerce outweigh the demands of art," then de facto censorship will flourish. I could reject your offer based on the fact that, to make this offer to me in the first place, you must be totally and insultingly ignorant of my work as a poet, which strives to stand against all that you and your client represent. Whoever referred me to you did you a grave disservice. I could reject your offer based on the fact that your client, Nike, has through commercials such as these outrageously manipulated the youth market, so that even low-income adolescents are compelled to buy products they do not need at prices they cannot afford. Ultimately, however, I am rejecting your offer as a protest against the brutal labor practices of Nike. I will not associate myself with a company that engages in the well-documented exploitation of workers in sweatshops. Please spare me the usual corporate response: there's no problem, and besides, we're working on it. I suggest, instead, that you take the $2500 you now dangle before me and distribute that money equally among the laborers in an Asian sweatshop doing business with Nike. The funds would be much more useful to them than to me. Thank you. Sincerely, Martn Espada