Wrist Deep

Dear Steven,

Thank you for letting us consider some of your work, but unfortunately we’ve decided not to publish any of these pieces. I want to assure you that your work has been taken under careful consideration—at least two editors read each submission, and I’m always one of them.

This is a form letter—necessary with a tiny staff and all these submissions—but what I’m about to say is sincere: Unlike most literary magazines, we don’t solicit work from famous poets; we feel that practice isn’t fair, and doesn’t make for a good magazine. Every single poem we publish started out as a submission, and 90% of the submissions we receive are from people who’ve submitted before. If you add those two facts together, you’ll see how much we rely on your persistence and generosity. We really do hope you’ll keep sending new work as it’s ready.

Also, it should go without saying that our decision to return this submission doesn’t mean much. We’re just fans of poetry ourselves, and all tastes are subjective. Moreover, we’re always looking to make the magazine as eclectic as possible – often we end up turning down submissions that we enjoy, simply because they’re similar in tone or content to other pieces we’ve published.

Though we’re always open to submissions from anyone, in any style, and on any subject, we do have a themed section in every issue. Now through 2/1/11, we’d like to receive as many submissions as we can from Canadian poets. If you consider yourself Canadian, with reason, please do try us again by the deadline. We still only publish a small percentage of what we receive, but the more submissions we read, the stronger the special section will be. The poems need not be about Canada or anything in particular, so long as they are written by Canadians.

In any event, thanks for continuing to share your work.

Best Wishes,
Tim