[Christine P'legion]

A recent addition to my rejection collection made me snort:

Hi Ms. Pennylegion,

We thank you for entrusting your work to us for the reading. I particularly enjoyed reading your poem, "Neighborhood Watch," which is a beautiful little tale in a tempered and well-used blank verse. For some reason, we have decided against the publication of it, this time around; however, I couldn't express this to you in any specific terms, and can only reference our own unfortunate arbitrariness, which can't be helped.

"I read it; I liked it; I don't feel like publishing it." Kudos to him for actually spelling it out, I guess!

[Jennifer Reeser]

I love it. Here's mine, from John Mella at LIGHT Quarterly, my first submission there ever:

"I am afraid you are MUCH too serious a writer for us."

[John Riley]

I had a chapbook rejection the other day. The editor praised the poems enough to make me blush. Then he turned to explaining why he wouldn’t publish it and made no sense. It was babble. I finally realized he probably didn’t have resources to publish it this year or he’d promised his wife’s best friend to do her book or something. It had nothing to do with my work. If it was he’d be able to tell me what in a way I could understand.

[R. Nemo Hill]

Chance always plays a huge role, and timing. Those who are well-known, apart from their talent or dedication to their craft, were at the right place and the right time. And time and place are beyond our control.

Nemo

[W T Clark]

I have a friend who says: do not worry about rejection, because rejection probably means nothing at all; but at the same time, acceptance is likely to mean the same.

[Sarah-Jane Crowson]

Originally Posted by Jennifer Reeser

I love it. Here's mine, from John Mella at LIGHT Quarterly, my first submission there ever:

"I am afraid you are MUCH too serious a writer for us."

That is wonderful, also Christine's example.

I don't have many great quotes on rejection, as I think my stuff either sends editors into a kind of knotted-brow frenzy of 'this is NOT poetry' or they love it.

I do have a great rejection quote from my art school interview (at the tender age of 18), during having my portfolio looked at, where three tutors discussed, and came to the conclusion that 'she' (spoken over my head):

'clearly didn't have the conceptual intelligence to make it as a fine artist, nor the drawing skills for graphics, so it was going to have to be crafts then, wasn't it'

Sarah-Jane
(I didn't end up doing crafts)

[Mark McDonnell]

Pah! Sarah, file that one under "Can't sing, can't act, dances a little" (apparently said by a casting agent of a young Fred Astaire)

[Jennifer Reeser]

Clearly they could not appreciate your genius, Sarah-Jane! Listen to Mark.

But I tell you, I never had a truer friend than Timothy Murphy who, when I went running to him, would fire back with something like, "So how drunk was he, darlin'?"

J

[RCL]

I just got this one responding to a chapbook heavy on family matters. The editor's first two paragraphs are positive for immediacy of narrative and lyric "threads" but the imagery "didn't take me anywhere." Here's the final paragraph:

"A smaller problem is a quandary of recounting--how to bring the memory forward into the now so that the readr can engage with it. It is nearly impossible for a reader to be able to engage with an author's memory. All she can do is shut up and listen to it, and that's no fun. It's like having a chair that is only supposed to be admired and never sat it."

WTF? Is he asking for a moral, or a "just like it is Texas now" tag? I humbly admit that I don't get this.

However, I was surprised and grateful to get the review, a first on any of my submissions over twenty-some years.

[John Riley]

Ralph, reviews usually make me feel good about the rejection.