New issue, dedicated to work by current and former prisoners, provokes uproar after it emerges one poet has served time for child pornography offences
The US’s prestigious Poetry magazine has doubled down on its decision to publish a poem by a convicted sex offender as part of a special edition dedicated to incarcerated poets, telling critics that “it is not our role to further judge or punish [people] as a result of their criminal convictions”.
The magazine, which has been running since 1912 and is published by the Poetry Foundation, has just released its new issue focusing on work by “currently and formerly incarcerated people”, their families and
prison workers. It includes a poem by Kirk Nesset, a former professor of English literature who was released from prison last year after serving time for possessing, receiving and distributing child
Sexual Abuse images in 2014. The investigation found Nesset in possession of more than half a million images and films of child sexual abuse.