Pendragon
05-25-2007, 11:24 AM
Letter To The Editor
Dear Ms:
About that last rejection slip I received from you—?
Concerning a submission that I have resent—
At your own personal request, mind—
For the third time now?
Yo, now a rejection slip is no big deal—
A beginner like myself is gonna receive his due share—
I do, however, object to your explanations for rejection.
First it was “Sorry, but ‘time’ and ‘time’ do not rhyme.”
Had your hearing checked recently, by a good doctor?
Many poets would definitely disagree with you—
Notably Edward Lear who popularized the limerick as poetry!
Or Edgar Alan Poe who makes the incredible attempt
To rhyme “enchanted” with “haunted” and “daunted” in The Raven?
Well, I fixed that—although I felt it hurt the poem—and resubmitted.
This time it was: “Our Northern readers will have problems with
Your use of Southern dialect and spitting as humor.”
God forbid they ever read Mark Twain, Langston Hughes, or J.W. Riley!
And how about Finley Peter Dunne’s Mr. Dooley?
Not to mention Lewis Carroll and Ogden Nash—
When they couldn’t find a word, they invented one on the spot!
What I’m trying to say is this:
They’ll still be reading Edward Lear when you are very old.
They will still chant The Raven long after you have passed away.
While your corpse decays beneath the soil,
They will still read Twain, Hughes, and J.W. Riley.
People will still laugh at the antics of Finley Peter Dunne,
When your petrified skull is labeled on a museum shelf.
Lewis Carroll and Ogden Nash will still be quoted,
Even as your marble headstone crumbles into dust.
And if my poetry isn’t still around at that time,
It will not be because I failed to imitate those that went before me…
That’s right.
Have a great time in your little world—
D. L. Harris
© 2/8/96
[This was written in reply to a very terse rejection slip after the third submission (at the editor's request) making changes suggested]http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l108/AbsalomKane/GrouchII.gif
Pendragon
Dear Ms:
About that last rejection slip I received from you—?
Concerning a submission that I have resent—
At your own personal request, mind—
For the third time now?
Yo, now a rejection slip is no big deal—
A beginner like myself is gonna receive his due share—
I do, however, object to your explanations for rejection.
First it was “Sorry, but ‘time’ and ‘time’ do not rhyme.”
Had your hearing checked recently, by a good doctor?
Many poets would definitely disagree with you—
Notably Edward Lear who popularized the limerick as poetry!
Or Edgar Alan Poe who makes the incredible attempt
To rhyme “enchanted” with “haunted” and “daunted” in The Raven?
Well, I fixed that—although I felt it hurt the poem—and resubmitted.
This time it was: “Our Northern readers will have problems with
Your use of Southern dialect and spitting as humor.”
God forbid they ever read Mark Twain, Langston Hughes, or J.W. Riley!
And how about Finley Peter Dunne’s Mr. Dooley?
Not to mention Lewis Carroll and Ogden Nash—
When they couldn’t find a word, they invented one on the spot!
What I’m trying to say is this:
They’ll still be reading Edward Lear when you are very old.
They will still chant The Raven long after you have passed away.
While your corpse decays beneath the soil,
They will still read Twain, Hughes, and J.W. Riley.
People will still laugh at the antics of Finley Peter Dunne,
When your petrified skull is labeled on a museum shelf.
Lewis Carroll and Ogden Nash will still be quoted,
Even as your marble headstone crumbles into dust.
And if my poetry isn’t still around at that time,
It will not be because I failed to imitate those that went before me…
That’s right.
Have a great time in your little world—
D. L. Harris
© 2/8/96
[This was written in reply to a very terse rejection slip after the third submission (at the editor's request) making changes suggested]http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l108/AbsalomKane/GrouchII.gif
Pendragon