Dear Writer,
Thank you for sending
your story
for our consideration
After careful review
we regret to say
we do all want most of all
to escape the
mere eventfulness
of our lives
the familiar ambiguity
of elevator doors opening
and day following night
of saved receipts
and national news updates
and the trace of a gull's flight
past the gray horizon
Thank you for casting your dread
upon the waters of these pages
We return them to you
mostly unread
The Editors
-- Lauren Thompson
I have a folder of rejection letters, some no more than an eighth of a sheet of typing paper, stating in a sentence or two, Thanks but no thanks. I never did have a short story accepted. Eventually I had a total of three poems published; that is, before I started crafting them as children's books. I just needed to find the right format for my words.
