I heard from Stickman Review, an online journal of poetry and short fiction, regarding the five poems I submitted back in November.  It was a fairly encouraging rejection note.  Judge for yourself:

"Thank you for submitting your work to Stickman Review. Sorry for the long response time. Although we will not be accepting this submission, feel free to submit again."

Something about the "feel free to submit again" felt genuine and reminds me that it's not about rejection, it's about submitting the right poem to the right place.

I checked out Stickman to see what I thought of the poets they published this go round and was pleased to find all but two of the poems to be excellent work.  Nice to be rejected if this is the competition.  Check them out and let me know what you think.

I titled the blog "The Long Lonesome" because that's what writing is some days.  Particularly days regarding the business of writing rather than the actual pen on paper stuff.  You send them out, your poems and stories, as children into the world.  And you watch with shallow breaths and deep hopes as they find their way to their true home.

Here are three of the five I submitted.  (In the Zen Garden, Widow, Al Fresco)  Off to scrounge up some potential homes for the children.

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