Rejection Letter

It is amazing how small minded the poetry magazines can be.

 

 

Dear Sir

We have declined your current submission

And offer some friendly advice

 

Your words lack rhythm

It is unlikely that you will gather many fans

To follow your style of writing

 

Your descriptions were too graphic

Our readers have a sensitive nature and

Might be offended by such raw emotion

 

Your poems need to be left aligned

Centered poems are considered to be

Amateurish

 

We hope that you will try

One of our poetry contests

For a small fee

 

 

Read more about Alex at:

www.Suburbanfiction.com

 

Author's Note

This was a collage of absurd statements from several actual rejection letters.

Reviews

[Poeticpiers]

Editors and readers are so far out of touch it is almost unbelievable.At the moment they seem only to consider free form despite their comments about rhythm and ryhme. Poetry competions on the whole are scams and will publish anything to extract money from hopeful writers Ithink the way ahead is self publishingFor myself I am quite happy with the feedback I get from readers on the net No body grows rich from writing poetry.Having said all that I enjoyed your poem

[crap]

great, for a writer at least, hits with that all too familiar tone, especially the "amateurish". flows nicely.

[Pax Analog]

Right, which brings up the whole self-publishing thing. On the one hand, intelligent critique is in order for all of us, since we don't operate in a vacuum, and need to curb ignorant narcissism. On the other hand, who the f**k is qualified, when the whole game is political? All I can say is, I've been taught in university, as a left-field wild card, by an avant academic featured in the NY Times, and before that was featured in a history book, some literary magazines, have pro performed music live, and gotten all manner of kudos cyber-global, just short of a more substantive deal, and my little LLC is under-financed.

The world REALLY IS The Matrix, so one is obliged to take on "Enlightenment Warrior" as part of one's "job description" or who gives a f**k if you succeed or not?

L Cohen: "There's a war between the rich and poor/a war between the man and the woman/There's a war between the ones who say there is a war/and the ones who say there isn't/Why don't you come on back to the war/put down your tiny burden/Why don't you come on back to the war/let's all get even."

Pax/Peace

[Rick Puetter]

Dear Alex,

Yes, a lot of us have seen letters like this. Professionally I see this all the time in submitting scientific proposals. Generally these types of letters are simply rationalizations of why your work was not selected even though they had preconceptions about what they were looking for and the deck was stacked against your from the very beginning.

Such rejections mean nothing. It simply means you were unlucky. And remember one of the truest statements I know: luck favors the persistent.

Kind regards,

Rick

[Chad Halle]

boy! o boy! that makes me laugh and dance and cheer. brilliantly and elegantly put together.
you got "suggestions" in letters? all i ever got was a notice saying it wasn't what they were looking for and to continue reading

[shyamchat]

Quite a nice idea......this collage !

[Litzsky]

the one who sent you the letter must not know what he/she is talking about..or maybe they are just interested with something else...*hugs*

[MagiCrystal]

Nice.. so nice.. Love it Magic

[S.J.Floreen]

A writer's worse nightmare, I'm sure. Sends chills down my spine thinking this is more than likely something I will see someday.

[Mark D. Chevalier]

lol... Man, I feel your pain... Although at least it looks like you've had some rejectios where they actually took the time to say something, instead of the dreaded form letters. Ah, the ivory tower of the publishing world...
Nice statement of facts, and superbly done! Sometimes all we can do is laugh, lest we go insane...
M

[54321]

oh my gosh! i can't believe it! i think this is humerous... in the fact that it is a compliation of rejection letters... too graphic? left aligned? jeeze thy take the creativity right out!