I’m Excited About Rejection!

On Saturday, I received two rejections in the mail. And I was actually pumped up after reading them.

Really, the first one from Asheville Poetry Review is the one that got me excited. While I could see it was a form rejection letter, there was a handwritten note at the bottom from the editor Keith Flynn:

"Robert,

It was nice to see you in NYC--sorry this isn't better news, but 'Pride Park' did make it to our final cut--thanks for your interest and keep pushing.

All best,

Keith"

And when I looked at my returned poems, the one Keith mentioned had been marked a few times with his signature. So, naturally, there was a part of me that was bummed about coming so close, but then there was another part of me that was excited to make it to the final cut in a journal that publishes a lot of poets I read in those annual Best American Poetry anthologies.

To emphasize the point, my rejection from The Sun had no special note--just a form rejection letter on a small piece of paper.

So yeah, "Pride Park" is definitely going out again soonish, and I'm excited to ramp up my submission efforts for the final 3 months of the year!