Keeping the Fire Burning

The following is a rejection letter that I received this past Monday. It has been copied word-for-word for accurate documentation (the name of the magazine has been removed). I missed publication because my poem was, simply, too damn long for the page. I would like to thank the editor for not suggesting to change the poem in any way.

"I am putting together the submissions for review now and I noticed that your poem "The First Day of Spring..." exceeds our line limit, so unfortunately, we won't consider that one for publication. Please continue to submit to _______________-- your voice here is so strong and I really loved the comparisons you forced throughout the poem -- from the title to the last line. Because we try to include as many poems as possible in the print version, we have to adhere to a line limit of 34 lines.

Again, please continue submitting. I look forward to reading more from you!" 

Yes, I am going to resubmit. The only problem is that I don't feel comfortable sending the couple poems that I have ready (which are less than 34 lines) because they are either in my chapbook, or have been picked up by other publications. I'll have to dig some poems out of one of the notebooks I carry around with me.

The poem, in case your curious, is about the day that the hate-filled leader of the Westboro Baptist Church died. It's not a poem about hating him in return (never hate, friends. It only creates more useless venom), but, instead, elaborating on how society will move forward a lot smoother without him.

You want to read the poem? Leave a comment below expressing some interest and I'll post it next time (it's the only way I know if anyone is actually reading this thing).

Cheers,

~Torres