Rejection, schmejection!!

I have recently tried to get a few of my poems published in magazines. Very small, primarily online, predominantly humorous, American magazines. Needless to say, the replies eventually came back: "Not quite right for us".

WHAT?! Too dark? Too witty? Too obscure? Too obscurely witty, and with too dark a wit?? Or just too non-American?! I suspect the latter: despite my many foreign travels, and close affinity with America, something within me remains definitively English, or at least British. And my poetic tastes and influences tend to incline more towards Auden and Hughes, and Brian Patten and Roger McGough - rather than Allen Ginsberg or William Carlos Williams (although I like them too).

I was tempted to respond with my favourite 'Peanuts' cartoon on the subject;-

Snoopy, in his writer persona, is sitting atop his kennel, tapping away at his typewriter. He writes:

"Dear Editor,

Thank you for your rejection slip.

I think there may have been a slight misunderstanding.

What I wanted was for you to publish my story and send me a check for $20,000.

Sincerely... "


Instead, I shall keep silent, and bear my disappointment with dignity.

However, this may mean that more and more of my 'poetry' starts making its way on to this blog. You have been warned!!