Things move slowly in the poetry world – especially compared to my day job in the classroom, where things generally feel as if they’re moving on fast forward. It’s sometimes frustrating, but it’s a rhythm I’m learning to get used to. And since I started submitting poems to literary magazines a few years ago, I’ve also had to get used to my fair share, not only of seemingly interminable waiting, but also of rejection at the end of it. It goes with the territory, but it’s still hard sometimes not to take it personally, or to catastrophise, especially when a flurry of rejections comes together.

One of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned from other poets is to swallow my pride and to resubmit to journals that have rejected me. Not the same poems, but different ones – hopefully better ones. And often, in the time between being rejected and the next submissions window, there’s a better poem waiting in the wings, and I’m almost glad that the earlier poem didn’t make the cut.

Perhaps the most extreme example of this for me is my experience with ‘The Interpreter’s House’ – a magazine I first started submitting to in the autumn of 2018, and which I regard very highly for the quality of the poems it publishes, as well as the way the editors promote these poems on social media. My first submission to ‘The Interpreter’s House’ was aspirational, and I wasn’t surprised to be rejected. I submitted again, and was again rejected, but this time with a note saying I was ‘warmly encouraged’ to send more. By then I knew enough to take this encouragement seriously. I submitted again. And again. And again. Three more rejections, with no notes. And then I submitted again, and received further encouragement to send more. I felt I was inching closer. And again – this time ‘We discussed your poem at length’. Yay! And then finally, this summer, an email saying that the editors would like to publish one of the poems I had sent in my latest submission, if I would be open to an editorial discussion about the ending.

I was thrilled to have finally made it – almost – and was delighted to have the opportunity for a chat about how the poem might end, which resulted in an editorial suggestion which I’m really happy with.

I’m so grateful to the editors, Georgi Gill and Louise Peterkin, for their faith in this poem, and for their encouragement with my previous unsuccessful submissions. Thanks also to all those poets who’ve also shared their stories of rejection and perseverance, which have given me the confidence and determination to keep going.

You can read my poem, ‘Distance’, here, but do have a browse of all the other poems in Issue 78 too.