TW:  Sexual assault of children

For their February 2021 issue of Poetry Magazine, "The Practice of Freedom," editors have chosen to publish the work of convicted pedophile Kirk Nesset, a man who watched infant rape and the rape of 6,7,8-year-old girls for pleasure.  When arrested, Nesset was in possession of over half a million images of child pornography and had circulated these images. 

“This case is unbelievable,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Christian Trabold said during Nesset’s Feb. 2016 sentencing. “It is the most child pornography that I have seen in 15 years as a federal prosecutor.” (allegehenycampus.com)

This petition calls for Poetry Magazine to remove Nesset's work from their pages and their website. That such an established publication would use their widely-read and highly selective platform to further the work and career of a predator cannot be labeled an oversight, nor defended.  It is an offensive and a destructive misuse of power.

Nesset's time served does not equate to the lifetime of emotional, physical, and psychological trauma victims of child pornography and sexual assault endure. The reward and high-standing that comes with publishing in such an esteemed magazine should be withheld from someone who has relished the torture and degradation of innocent children, some only months old.

Besides removing Nesset's work, Poetry Magazine should issue an apology to Nesset's voiceless victims, their readers and subscribers, and victims of sexual violence everywhere.