Sewanee Sonnets Soon
 

Today's mail brought my pay (!) for the two sonnets of mine that will be appearing in the next issue of The Sewanee Review ("America's oldest literary quarterly" and a consistently rewarding read!).

The poems are funny-ish (I hope) takes on illustrious primates: one about a caged orangutan and one about my dad. Both gained much from workshopping here, so my thanks, once again, to this community.

Best wishes,

--Simon

Great placement, Simon. Congratulations!

Congratulations, Simon! It is always a treat to be paid for poems. Sadly, I have noticed that the number of female poets in that journal is very low indeed.

Susan

Marvelous, Simon. Congratulations. You can sing, with a Myron Cohen-like accent, "Way down upon the Sewanee Review . . ."

dwl

It's always nice when one gets paid for their work, double congrats, Simon

A very prestigious venue. Big congratulations, Simon!

Best,
Jean

Congrats, Simon! Great venue.

David R.

Definitely the big time, Simon. Congrats.

Bumping up to say thanks, all, for the support and that I've just received the issue in the mail (woohoo!), so you can look for it at your friendly news-stand.

As to Susan's concern: interesting, and something I regret not having considered more deeply before. The issue with my two poems contains poems by 2 women, 6 men (including me), and J.P. White (whose gender is unknown to me). The only fiction is by a female writer, but the essays are all by men, I think. A perusal of the back-issues on my shelves reveals similar proportions...

Congratulations, Simon. George runs a grand old journal, even if a case for chauvinism could be made. Tell me, how many years did it take from submission to publication???

I can't believe that people even count!! Or care.

Hope it didn't damper your joy, Simon, for it has nothing to do with the value of your poems. Good on you for getting into a difficult publication. Enjoy your success which is always hard earned and well deserved.

Congratulations, Simon. not least for the payment.

Thanks again, all, for the support. I appreciate what Laura and Janice say about the payment and the poems' value. Getting paid lets you know what a poem's worth, for sure--in this case about a pizza a piece, and that ain't nothin'. This isn't the place to get into the gender-politics of journals or of the Sewanee, in particular, but I do want to say that I'm sincere in my response to Susan, above. That is--like just about everyone, I'd guess--I prefer to submit to journals whose conduct and practices I endorse. For me, that would include a general open-ness to submissions from both male and female writers (which is neither to insist upon a one-for-one publication rate nor to draw any conclusions about the Sewanee's practices...). If somebody thinks of a journal as a "boys' club," then I'm glad to hear about her/his concern and to consider the matter for myself.

As Tim says, though, there's a lot to like in each number of the Sewanee Review. This looks like a good one--although no Mason and Gwynn like last go-round--and I'm proud to be included.

Tim: Years, not months. Two or three, I think, but I'm terrible at record-keeping...

Congratulations, Simon - very distinguished placements.