Featured Poet - The Spring 2014 Issue of The Stinging Fly

I think you can tell a lot about the quality of a magazine that rejects you. Multiple times. You can also tell a lot about a magazine that publishes works from writers who have tales of multiple rejections from the same magazine. Who persevere beyond the rejection, who become better because of the rejection – because there is something (and I don’t know what it is, but it is something) in wanting your work showcased between the covers of a magazine that rejects you. In my case, the magic number was four. It took four rejections, but I am finally able to say that I have poems in The Stinging Fly. Not only that, but my poems make up the feature in the Spring Issue. I am thrilled. I am absolutely thrilled. This is a very special day to me, in my writing life. A very special day. 

Here are two pictures of me holding the magazine. Look at the dimple dents in my face. Again – a very special day in my writing life. Just one of the best.