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"Rattle" takes two

Jefferson Carter

Jefferson Carter

dedicated minor poet
Fellow-poets, I just received an acceptance from Rattle of two poems. I'm happy about that since the journal is paying me $100 each. It's almost unheard of for a journal to pay that much for a poem.
Thanks to Tim Green and the editors. I'll raise a glass of good wine to them when I blow the money on dinner at one of Tucson's best restaurants!
 
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Edmund, yeah, Tim and I started off on the wrong foot years ago when I criticized a poem that won the "Rattle" prize. He was pretty pissed off at me. Since then, I've grown to respect his dedication to promoting good poetry and the magazine's HUGE readership. My taste in poetry is so different from his and his other editors I never thought I'd get a poem accepted there. The lesson: keep on submitting, no matter how often your work gets rejected!

I also recently stopped submitting poems to obscure, fly-by-night online and print poetry venues. The thrill has gone, seeing one of my poems among all that other mediocre stuff, most of which I skim before burying the journal forever among my shelves. I've been trying to get into what I consider the top journals—"APR," "Tin House," "Colorado Review," etc. My rejection rate has tripled, but if and when I do get an acceptance (as with the "Rattle" pieces), the thrill comes back! Thanks for your enthusiastic congrats!
I'll raise a glass to you at that fancy restaurant!
 
Jeff, I will take your lesson to heart and keep submitting. I've been doing what you've been doing and aiming for the top. Problem is that many of the upper-echelon magazines want a few bucks before they even look at what you have. The other problem is cases like "The Cape Rock" that are still holding my submission after one year. Oh well, press on.
 
Edmund, I don't mind sending a coupla bucks to a good magazine to help them defray the costs of publishing. I don't ever pay more than $15 to enter a contest, and I don't enter many contests anyway because it's such a long shot to win anything. Keep on truckin'
 
Congratulations, jefferson, well deserved!
Which poems?
Who says there's no money in poetry? Two hundred dollars can buy a house somewhere on this good earth...
 
Mike, "Guyz Night Out" and "To My Sister, the Feminist." I'll post them here once they've been published by "Rattle." I have some 30+ poems that might make a chapbook, but so many of them are "poetry-lite," I'm not sure how enthusiastic I feel about such a new book. I have a carton of my 2016 books in my closet, whining to be adopted. I need to sell the damn things but have run out of potential markets. I might give a coupla readings this year in Albuquerque where my son now lives. Perhaps some kind New Mexicans will adopt a copy or two . Decisions, decisions.
 
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