Kathleene West @ Puerto Del Sol. This was a very personable rejection with a large amount of explanation. There were some general extrapolations about what I'd sent, and a few very specific comments about a particular poem. It's been quite a while since I received a rejection with handwriting on it. Any handwriting. This was refreshing.
The Bad:
R. Gerry Fabian @ Post Poems. This magazine stated (in their PM guidelines) wanting shorter poems, any subject and style, and that humorous poems were always welcome. I didn't have any humorous poems on hand, but didn't think it mattered much, as they look for any subject, any style, short. This rejection arrived with some interesting options that the editor could have checked off in little checkboxes: 1. Good job- see reverse. 2. You don't have a clue about this press. 3. Your submission format is atrocious. 4. Close. Try again with others. 5. See note on back. 6. Visit web page. The ones he checked on my rejection were #5 and #6. On the back, he wrote "There is nothing in this batch you sent that fits our needs." Under the options on the front side, it states they're only looking for humorous poems. Well, it's an odd, if not creative rejection, and only qualifies for 'The Bad' because their market guidelines didn't exactly state what they're really looking for. If ALL they wanted were humor poems, they should have stated so in their PM listing. Either way, no so bad as others.
The Clerically Ill:
Jim Barnes @ The Chariton Review. Never received a response, neither to my submission in the time they stated, nor during the four months after, nor in the two further weeks my NR gave them. So, I rescinded. I Received a response a week after rescinding the poems from this publication. Editor wrote: "I don't have your poems. Blame Truman State or the P.O. Jim B. " Interestingly, this editor's response came from Brigham Young University in Utah. But the rescinsion and earlier submission were sent to Truman State in Missouri. I can only assume Mr. Barnes relocated to Missouri, and the new editor fucked it all up, or , Barnes was still running it, but lost some things in the move. Or else it was the PO or Truman State. Either way, it was a rescinsion. But then... UPDATE 10-25-05: No, apparently it wasn't. Though 10 months had passed, I just today received a basic form rejection of the poems I sent, and rescinded last January. I can only assume the editor lost these poems in the move, then found them later after telling me he didn't have them. Or the school lost them, found them, sent them on 10 months later... or who cares. Some of these poems have already been rejected elsewhere since, and one of them has been accepted for publication in another magazine.
