Today's rejection letter from Wesleyan University Press put me in a very good mood. "Dear Peggy xxxxx, Thank you for submitting your manuscript to Wesleyan University Press. Your work is highly accomplished and certainly worthy of publication. However, blah blah blah blah blah. Our resources permit us to publish only five to six books of poetry a year, yet the poetry program receives nearly a hundred unsolicited manuscripts every month. The competition is tough, and we must turn away many publishable projects."

Do you think it's a coincidence that the glut of new MFA programs that have created such intense competition amongst poets sprung up around the same time most homes were switching over to electric ovens? Could poets really deal with this much competition otherwise?

I read a quote by Quentin Tarantino today that said something like, "the relationship between the director and the audience is an S & M relationship, and the audience is the M." Are poets the M, loving every rejection letter they can turn into an origami crane, or are they the S, forcing tight, hermetic little phrases down the audience's throat?

I say to this rejection letter: Thank you, sir(s), may I have another?