In ‘A Defence of Poetry’, an essay written in 1821 and published posthumously in 1840, English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley defined poets as “the unacknowledged legislators of the world”. Since then, one might say poets have become the legislators of the unacknowledged world. As part of its Poem of the Week series, Wheeler Centre resident organisation Australian Poetry is currently taking submissions from members for poetry of 20 lines or less about changing the world. What would you legislate, given the opportunity? Submissions will be accepted until 5pm Wednesday. Email paul@australianpoetry.org - see the guidelines for submissions. Here’s a 2006 essay by US poet Adrienne Rich on how the world needs poetry more than ever.