Kumaglak Nanuq Polar Bear, who tried to make the Polar Bears’ Poetry Picnic more open and inclusive, has resigned after serving two years of this three-year term.

In a letter to the event organizers and to the Department of Holidays, Festivals, and Celebrations, Polar Bear thanked the department for their confidence in him and expressed his appreciation for the opportunity to serve The Park’s literary community.

“I will be forever grateful to you for allowing me the chance to broaden my fellow Animals’ appreciation of my species and of poetry,” he wrote in his letter of resignation.

Polar Bear made no mention of the recent controversy, which Seymour K. Worthington Polar Bear stirred up a week before Saturday’s event. The former picnic director said he felt the event would be diminished by the upcoming changes such as the inclusion of non-poets and artists from other media and genres. He also offended many when, in an interview with Yannis Tavros on Toro Talk Radio, he made remarks that sounded as if he believed that his own species was superior in the field of poetry and he decried what he believed was the “watering down” of the genre in order to appeal to other species.

The Department of Holidays, Festivals, and Celebrations has not commented on the resignation.