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Thanks and happy listening.

I'm Major Jackson, and this is the Slowdown.

Thank you. And this is the slowdown.

My first rejections from literary journals were a gut punch.

I took the plunge to see how my poems would fare in the big wide world of lit magazines, hopeful that I would find an audience.

I had, until then, only shared my work with friends. I purchased the trade book Poets Market and identify which publications I thought my work best fit.

As instructed in the chapter, insider tips on what editors want, I sent only five poems.

They were carefully curated to match the taste of editors at five chosen literary journals.

This was in the days before online submissions.

To write the cover letter, make out checks for submission fees,

stuff the envelopes with poems in a self-addressed stamped envelope,

then drive to the post office, took me several hours.

When I deposited my palms into the big blue mailbox that first time, I felt the glow of pride

and confidence. Several days. Not weeks later, the poems were returned with little slips of dismissive remarks inside.

Doesn't do it for us. Please submit in three years. We deliberated long and hard.

Alas, these poems never reached the finish line. Nice sonnets. We don't publish these.

Ouch.

The swiftness and brevity of responses stung.

...