Poetry in Wartime

These unforgettable poems ask us to confront war, to acknowledge those destroyed by it. Chris Abani, who was imprisoned three times by the Nigerian government, makes us understand, in a frightening yet tender poem, that he has indeed “seen too much.” June Jordan offers us a devastatingly matter-of-fact look at war’s toll on women and girls. In a quieter mode, Benjamin Alire Sáenz writes of communing with trees as a way of coping with grief. And Ruth Stone, with her characteristic mix of musicality and irony, arrests us with an image of mortal sin.