AlphaBeta on Nostr: Anne Boyer has resigned from her position as Poetry Editor at the New York Times. ...
Anne Boyer has resigned from her position as Poetry Editor at the New York Times.
This is another omen in a growing line of portentous signs about the seriousness of Israel's United States-backed genocide of Palestinians.
Though accurate, that last phrase feels *inadequate*, doesn't it?
Let's try it again: Israel's genocide against Palestine is being funded and supported by the United States military and its massive, opaque budget.
... no, still not good enough.
Your personal tax dollars —the money you earn but then lose at your master's discretion under pain of imprisonment— is being used to waylay and murder babies as they and their parents huddle in impotent fear or flee for their lives.
Nah, not quite. Once more.
You —you, personally— and I are both unwillingly but directly and personally complicit in the mass murder of an entire nation.
Those of you with functioning souls who know what poetry really is and why it matters probably already understand why Boyer's hard-nosed exit from the NYT is such a storm warning. Boyer is a cultural fixture. Poets, much like songwriters (but subject to fewer creative boundaries) are bellwethers of the zeitgeist. People have long looked to these kinds of artists to get a sense of which way the wind blows in the realms of our many disparate cultures. As a compulsive poet myself, I can confidently tell you that when poets say "no poetry for you" you know things are bad. In her resignation letter, she said that she "won’t write about poetry amidst the ‘reasonable’ tones of those who aim to acclimatize us to this unreasonable suffering." To put it another way, she is setting aside one of the most important things in her life —perhaps even what she considers to be her purpose— because dire times call for such a drastic measure.
Boyer's work is amazing. If you haven't read Garments Against Women, you should. I bought that book in order to read it with Mom before she died, but I was too late. The first book of Boyer's that I read was The Romance of Happy Workers, and yo, if that title doesn't grab you, I don't know that you're the type to appreciate why a genocide might be a bad thing.
Boyer's (and others like her) rejection of her obligate art in the face of the actual literal atrocity that you and I are personally backing is a big deal. It's a sign. Check the wind, cousins.
This is another omen in a growing line of portentous signs about the seriousness of Israel's United States-backed genocide of Palestinians.
Though accurate, that last phrase feels *inadequate*, doesn't it?
Let's try it again: Israel's genocide against Palestine is being funded and supported by the United States military and its massive, opaque budget.
... no, still not good enough.
Your personal tax dollars —the money you earn but then lose at your master's discretion under pain of imprisonment— is being used to waylay and murder babies as they and their parents huddle in impotent fear or flee for their lives.
Nah, not quite. Once more.
You —you, personally— and I are both unwillingly but directly and personally complicit in the mass murder of an entire nation.
Those of you with functioning souls who know what poetry really is and why it matters probably already understand why Boyer's hard-nosed exit from the NYT is such a storm warning. Boyer is a cultural fixture. Poets, much like songwriters (but subject to fewer creative boundaries) are bellwethers of the zeitgeist. People have long looked to these kinds of artists to get a sense of which way the wind blows in the realms of our many disparate cultures. As a compulsive poet myself, I can confidently tell you that when poets say "no poetry for you" you know things are bad. In her resignation letter, she said that she "won’t write about poetry amidst the ‘reasonable’ tones of those who aim to acclimatize us to this unreasonable suffering." To put it another way, she is setting aside one of the most important things in her life —perhaps even what she considers to be her purpose— because dire times call for such a drastic measure.
Boyer's work is amazing. If you haven't read Garments Against Women, you should. I bought that book in order to read it with Mom before she died, but I was too late. The first book of Boyer's that I read was The Romance of Happy Workers, and yo, if that title doesn't grab you, I don't know that you're the type to appreciate why a genocide might be a bad thing.
Boyer's (and others like her) rejection of her obligate art in the face of the actual literal atrocity that you and I are personally backing is a big deal. It's a sign. Check the wind, cousins.