i'd been waiting for a while to hear from the english department about whether or not they were going to give me (or stef, who also applied) $2500 to write poetry this summer. alas, they did not elect to give me (or stef) $2500 to write poetry this summer. i suppose i should have known: english departments have never liked me that much. individual teachers, sure. english majors, absolutely. but departments give me the cold shoulder.

to cushion the expected blow, before i heard i sent poetry off to six different places. fly, little poems! fly! i average about .3 submissions to out-of-college publications a year and that's sorely below the necessary number. at .3 a year, it would take me forever to accumulate the 42 requisite rejections that liz says precede that long awaited moment of wonder.
i did, however, only a matter of hours after sending the email, hear from the first place i sent stuff to. fixion magazine accepted "our visit," the t.s. eliot poem. well! that'll be the first time i've had something in print in an out-of-college medium since merlyn's pen took "i used to be a gymnast." hopefully this bodes well for my future of not being a pathetic failure.