[wendy v]

I'm often asked/accused about this subject in email.

The poems of mine which appeared on DE, and subsequently appeared in Poetry, were from some years ago, and before the magazine changed its guidelines to state that any online appearance is considered previous publication. If those guidelines were in place behind the scenes I was blissfully ignorant of them.

The subsequent 6 or seven poems of mine they've published did not appear here or anywhere else before Poetry picked them up.

My work has been roundly rejected by the other reputable journals out there, and I feel no need to demonize those editors or assume ugly motivations on their part. My very unfashionable assumption is that my work does not appeal to them.

I credit with gushing abandon the dynamic on the early DE for teaching me to better access, listen to, and strangle the neck of my own inner critic.

It's a good thing to learn. Sorry if this sounds pompous, but I've grown weary of those who imply I've rec'd some special treatment, that poems require workshopping, or that the editors at Po Mag are vile creatures intent on destroying life on earth as we know it.

I don't send cover letters, a bio, boxes of chocolate, caches of money, offers for sexual favors, or suitcases full of hashish to editors. I am not connected to any MFA program, have no published book, don't attend national poetry conferences, and I refuse to do reviews. I am the quintessential nobody who simply sends out poems. I am sorry to disappoint those who seek scandal or some other kind of self satisfaction on these matters.

All the same, having seen Tim's posting above (thanks, Tim), if I were a regular workshopper, I'd consider that reply of CW's more heartening than discouraging.

I won't carry on about how the focus in many of these threads seem awfully skewed ...

No mas from me.

Ward, word,
etc.
wendy