On Rejection

File Under Writing

Six and a half years ago, after completing writing a poem I really liked, I submitted it for the first time. 233 days later, I got the standard rejection letter. No problem. Even then I was used to opening rejection letters, updating my submissions spreadsheet, and moving on.

But I really felt like this poem was "good." I put that word in quotes, because I'm at a loss for a better way to describe the feeling. "I believed in the poem" is too grand. "I thought it should be published" is egotistical and presumptuous. Besides, "good" is subjective; it's not that I expect people to dislike my work, but tastes are individual.

In any case, and for whatever reason, I felt compelled to keep sending it out, looking for magazines and publishers where I believed it would be a "good" fit. It's a short poem. I think the poem is lighthearted, maybe even funny, though subtly so.

Thirty times. I submitted the same poem thirty times over the last six and a half years. Thirty times I read, "Unfortunately, we're going to pass on this one at this time, but best of luck placing it elsewhere."

I have a lower threshold for many works; if it's rejected a certain number of times, I need to take a hard look at the poem and see what is missing, or extraneous, or problematic. I think that's a healthy practice. But not always, and not for this poem which, on its thirty-first submission, was accepted for publication.

Of course I wish I had known about District Lit back in 2014. But who knows what would have happened if I had submitted it there then.

A corollary: I had met my wife more than six and a half years before we started dating. Who can say whether we would have lasted as a couple if we had started dating when we first met. Admittedly, that's not a perfect analogy; the poem never changed in that time, but for sure I did!

Still, six and a half years later, I still think this poem is "good" as it is. You are welcome to read and disagree.

P.S. Another poem I wrote (and first submitted five and a half years ago) was recently accepted on the 23rd submission. With apologies, I'll probably shimmy uninvited into your social media feed when that publishes, explaining why I couldn't edit that one either, despite its rejections.

P.P.S. Some things are not worth waiting for. If you haven't been able to schedule an appointment to get the COVID-19 vaccine, please remember that getting vaccinated is safe, easy, and is something you are doing in service of others. Be well.

Click here to read "Docent at the Hall of Mirrors" published in District Lit.