[Wgcp-whc] WGCP

[Richard Deming]

Dear Friends,

On behalf of Nancy Kuhl and myself I’m writing to say that after 13 years, we’ve decided to bring the Working Group in Contemporary Poetics to a close.  Over the time that the group has existed, we have helped brings dozens of poets to campus to discuss their work and contemporary issues in poetics more generally with the members of our community.  Over the years, we have had generative, provocative discussions with these visitors and with the members of this group, which counts over three hundred people on the listserv, from locals to members who live halfway around the globe.  The group brought together grad students and undergraduates, senior faculty and lecturers from a range of fields and departments. In exciting ways, the group extended beyond the campus walls, and drew together a wide range poets, critics, and insightful readers from other institutions, from New Haven and vicinity, from New York and Cambridge to our regular meetings. This idea of an inclusive community deepened the range of discussion in countless ways.

The logistics of running the group and maintaining a cohesive and coherent core were always a challenge, but a gratifying and rewarding one, which speaks to the group’s worldwide reach and longevity.  Yet, everything has a season and it seems best at this juncture to let the WGCP evolve into a new slate of possibilities and opportunities. 

We’d like to thank all the members both near and afar who helped sustain the group and its ongoing conversations.  We’d like to express our gratitude to our Emeritus Coordinator, Jean-Jacuqes Poucel, who helped envision what this group could do and what it could be. We also want to thank the English Department for its ongoing support, and above all we’d like to thank our co-sponsrs: the Whitney Humanities Center and the Beinecke Rare Book Library.  Both of these institutions have provided the support, the encouragement, and the home that allowed us to make the WGCP into what it has been for so many years.

Yours,

Richard Deming & Nancy Kuhl, Group Coordinators
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