POESY has been involved with the small press now for 18 years. We have seen magazines come and go so often that it just gives us more thirst to stay alive during these trying times. To stay alive, we have to stay funded, to stay funded (without selling out and maintaining completer control of the artistic content that goes into the magazine), I have to work at 40-60 hour a week job.

During the hours left, when I am not working, I admit there has been more occasion than once that poems have fallen through the cracks. One poet decided to recently go on a rampage insulting the magazine, the intern and myself because he just heard back from his submission after 18 months. Sorry. We screwed up. There are a lot of people like this individual who were originally accepted, but then were cut in the final editing stage. In this particular case, the submission was still in the POESY #36 folder and never got moved back into the rejection folder. Yes, we screwed up. It won’t be the first time. It won’t be the last. I accepted the fact that we screwed up.

I thought maybe the fact that his poetry was in the final edits and got cut last minute would give him some comfort or drive to submit again or least keep his cool. He just cannot let go.

I don’t know what else to do. I have apologized.

This statement is just to let you know, that sometimes your submission will fall through the cracks of our system and I am sorry if it took 18 months to respond (which is a lie, because in issue #36, I mentioned he was still being considered for the issue).

People wonder why editors stop putting their heart into publishing everyone else’s work. This is why. If you want to keep the small press alive, give your editor some slack and realize we are not perfect, nor of the “POETRY” or “Poets & Writers,” but rather indiduals doing this out of our own free will and putting hard earned cash and time out of a love for poetry—your poetry.

Thanks,
Brian