Cortney Lamar Charleston of the Rumpus

Extending rejection is my most upsetting responsibility as a poetry editor; as a poet, I know rejection is daunting to face because of the negative feelings it stirs in us. Consider all that care and conviction poured into the ink: It is so easy to feel that we, personally, are being excluded, diminished, ignored when our work is not accepted—because is that not us on the page? Undoubtedly it is, and that is why we need discernment in choosing who we allow ourselves to be vulnerable with, so to speak.