[Aaron Poochigian]

Yes, Sam, I imagine the conference was enjoyable if one was on the faculty.

[Jennifer Reeser]

Originally Posted by Aaron Poochigian

Thank you very much, Jennifer. And congrats on your poem in Poets Respond: https://www.rattle.com/tag/jennifer-reeser/

This is really sweet of you, Aaron, and much appreciated.

Jennifer

[R. S. Gwynn]

Yes, Aaron, being on the faculty was fun--six hours of teaching and up to ten student conferences in three days. Dealing face to face with so much individual genius was indeed a humbling experience, and the way that attendees were able to subordinate their egos to the greater goal of learning and sharing was a joy.

[Aaron Poochigian]

Good, good, Sam. Let's get it all out. That's what I wanted for this thread.

[Susan McLean]

After many years of attending and participating in academic conferences, I quickly decided that West Chester was my favorite ever. I met so many wonderful poets, both faculty and students, and learned so much from the in-depth discussions of writing in form, that I can honestly say that my life was much enriched by it. Anyone can carp at individual aspects of any experience, but I prefer to look at the positives. If the conference is now likely to end, I will miss it very much. I would like to see it be able to continue, though I fear the direction it may take if a formalist is not in charge of directing it. One of the great strengths of the program was that it was designed by formalists for formalists, something that wasn't being done anywhere else. That made it worth a special trip, for me.

Susan

[Allen Tice]

I was an eye and ear witness to several outbreaks of formalism there. Like ginger. Sam and Alicia and Josh won't remember them, but I was in the rooms.

[Quincy Lehr]

There was a generation gap in rhymed-and-metered poetry when I came on the scene, and, as noted in my linked article, more than a bit of a whiff of conservatism, both aesthetic and political. What conferences like West Chester, as well as editors like Bill Baer did for me, at least, was to give me a foil to which I could relate way more than whatever ex-post-avant-something-or-other was in mainstream fashion at that particular moment. If "New Formalism" was in some ways something to define myself against, it was because it was at the same time close enough to what I was doing in many ways to make the juxtapositions meaningful. (And I've said more or less all of this into microphones in some form or other at West Chester. Sometimes even with Dana Gioia present.)

[R. S. Gwynn]

Allen, you've lost me. Ginger? There was a pretty good poet named Ginger whom Story Line published some years ago. I've lost track of her, but Keillor was a big fan. She came to West Chester once. Folks seem to be talking in riddles here. I think Susan has nailed what was valuable about West Chester. It was valuable for many. Good company.

[Allen Tice]

Sorry, Sam, for being too aromatic. I am very fond of that glorious spice, which is, at times, lyrical for me. I meant no harm, especially seeing as how I was in your classroom, and Alicia's too. A phrase a bit over the top, I'm sure.

[R. S. Gwynn]

Ginger Andrews was the poet's name, not that it's relevant to the discussion.