Read my latest story, "A Tale of Two Birthdays", at 52|250.

I realize it’s problematic at best to judge a book by its title, but when John Felstiner asks Can Poetry Save the Earth?, (h/t) he makes a common error. Environmentalism is not about saving the Earth, which will continue to exist if the polar ice caps melt and various cataclysms lead to the end of the human race. Environmentalism (in its preservationist form) may be said to be dedicated to maintaining the Earth as we know it, but at a much more basic level, it is about saving humanity.

The question then is not whether poetry can save the Earth but whether poetry can save humanity from itself. This is a question that goes beyond the more obvious facets of environmentalism: it becomes a question of ending violence and other forms of oppression as well. Of course, the environmental justice movement has shown us how all of these intersect.

Those of us who have turned to poems in our most miserable moments know that poetry can do this because we have experienced it on an individual level. We know that the answer to this revised question is yes because we know that when intellectual understanding isn’t enough to lead to action, poetry can create the necessary feeling.

Emily Dickinson and Lady Mary Wroth have been the two poets who have fulfilled this function most often for me. What about for you?

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