Sharon Olds is an American poet, born in San Francisco, and author of seven volumes of poetry. Her latest work, The Wellspring (1996), shares with her previous work the use of raw language and startling images to convey truths about domestic and political violence, sexuality, family relationships and the body. The reviewer for the New York Times hailed Olds’s poetry for its vision: “Like Whitman, Ms. Olds sings the body in celebration of a power stronger than political oppression.”