[W.F. Lantry]

Hey, folks,

Thanks for all your kind words. Maryann, Frank, Martin, Janice, Ed, Allen, Cathy, Steve, David: It's your recognition that makes this even more joyful! And thanks to all the others who peeked in, even if they didn't say anything. I appreciate that too!

I know our lives are full of inexplicable mysteries, and the three I'm about to mention are pretty far down the scale. But I've yet to figure out why we seem to do better abroad than at home. I'm completely baffled by that.

Nor do I understand why we do so much better in what are considered free verse journals. You'll notice my name missing in most of the 'usual suspects' for the formal community, but several places with a reputation of being non-formal friendly happily accept our pentameter. We just got an acceptance from a place that had Rae Armentrout in their last issue, for goodness sake! Makes me wonder if we're not missing something.

Strangest of all, Kate tells me that Duotrope has stopped listing us. There are even some journals listed as having a zero acceptance rate, but if you click on them, it says 'people accepted here have also been accepted at Y journal, X monthly, and Z quarterly.' Close examination finds that we're in those three. They must have some kind of database trigger that says 'No ordinary human can wrangle such placements.'

But Kate, of course, is no ordinary human! She is a force onto herself. Cantor will tell you the poems can't be getting accepted on their own merits, and in this case, I'm inclined to agree with him!

All Hail Kate!

Thanks,

Bill