Two centuries ago, Percy Shelley wrote that “poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world.” Yet elite power has routinely vetoed their best measures. Still, the ability of poetry to inspire and nurture is precious, including when governments are on protracted killing sprees.
But sometimes conscience requires the withdrawal of poetic talent instead of helping to normalize the unconscionable. That’s what happened last week when the New York Times Magazine lost its poetry editor.
