Wiman Moves on to Yale

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In all corners private and public, where women and men of letters collect to argue politics, poetry, and philosophy, the poets are discussing who best should replace Chris Wiman, who will relinquish  his position as editor of Poetry this year.

I myself would like to extend him a public note of thanks, and not just for his astonishing support of my peculiar verses over the years, but for resuscitating the art of criticism in the journal, for his willingness to offend the establishment, for tripling circulation, for publishing side-by-side the secular and the devotional, the free and the formal, the humorous and the serious, for his courage in the face of intense scrutiny, and for staying true to Harriet Monroe's original mission for the journal.

Over the last nine years, he has published a couple dozen of my poems, from nonce sonnets to epigrams to strange, esoteric pieces. Appearing in those hallowed pages is always a blessing; it is also a bit like having a target painted on one's back. Those poems of mine have garnered more attention, reproduction, scandal, criticism and discussion than any other publications of mine combined.  I am grateful for the exposure, and for his kindness and humility in all his correspondences with me  -- me, an unconnected, unacademic, unknown working poet living in Western Colorado.

I am only one of many obscure poets Wiman has brought to the pages of Poetry during his tenure.   Gawd bless 'im, and godspeed.

Wiman to step down


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