There are some truly fine poems in this post. It's just as well that you had an unflappable belief in your own judgement or they might not be here now, as good as they always were.
To my credit, I never gave up on the poems that seemed good to me. There are still a few here and there that I am trying to get published in journals, after all these years. If they don't get published, it won't be because I gave up on them.
Oh, I should mention that your poem 'Sunset' is very striking because of the simultaneous feeling of anger and beauty within the language used to describe how your beloved grandfather was taken from you. It's as if the beautiful colours at the end of a day (at the end of a life) have taken on an angry aspect because of your sense of loss. How anybody could reject this gem is just beyond me!
I have long thought "Sunset" is one of my better poems. I'm always a bit shocked when such poems get rejected. But the so-called "big name" journals invariably turn them down.
There are some truly fine poems in this post. It's just as well that you had an unflappable belief in your own judgement or they might not be here now, as good as they always were.
To my credit, I never gave up on the poems that seemed good to me. There are still a few here and there that I am trying to get published in journals, after all these years. If they don't get published, it won't be because I gave up on them.
Oh, I should mention that your poem 'Sunset' is very striking because of the simultaneous feeling of anger and beauty within the language used to describe how your beloved grandfather was taken from you. It's as if the beautiful colours at the end of a day (at the end of a life) have taken on an angry aspect because of your sense of loss. How anybody could reject this gem is just beyond me!
'and in the bright-tentacled sunset
we imagine a presence
full of the fury of lost innocence.'
I have long thought "Sunset" is one of my better poems. I'm always a bit shocked when such poems get rejected. But the so-called "big name" journals invariably turn them down.
'Sunset' is excellent and so are the others. Some decisions are just baffling.
Some of the "name" journals are indeed baffling.
When I was a student, there was avbrand of bread called Monks' Bread. We young fellows responded with the apocryphal Nuns' Buns.
Bob, you have inspired me! I came up with a sequel:
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Shun Nuns’ Buns
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a sequel to “Nun Fun Undone” for Bob Zisk
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Nor shall ye have any
uncanny
part or portion of a nun’s fanny!
Eeek, then I have been defeated over 9,000 times.
But I did it by outsmarting the rigged system, not compromising.