November 9th-15th email exchange with a journal associate editor after having my submission rejected, the submitted poem, and some notes
Subject: Your Submission[1] to the ███[2] Journal From: A███ ███ a███@a███-journal.org To: alks ███@protonmail.com CC: s███ ███ ███ s███@███-journal.org Date: Wednesday, November 9th, 2022 at 10:44 PM
Dear alks,
Thank you so much for your submission and interest in The ███ Journal. We appreciated the chance to consider your poem for the ███ ███ ███ special issue. Unfortunately, the piece by itself is not aligned for the issue, and we have decided not to move forward with your piece at this time. For future submissions, we encourage you to submit multiple poems for consideration as well context for the writing.
Thanks again, and best wishes in your writing and scholarship,
A███
A███ ███, PhD Associate Editor The ███: A Journal of ███ ███, ███ & ███
Subject: Re: Your Submission to the ███ Journal From: alks ███@protonmail.com To: A███ ███ a███@a███-journal.org Date: Thursday, November 10th, 2022 at 8:11 AM
A███,
I have decided not to pursue the path of months of unpaid work for a few lines of credentials in a bio. I was hoping you would reject it, so I wouldn't have to ask for it to be retrieved myself. I may be reading warmth in a several-times-copy-pasted sample[3] – and if you're the one who wrote it, you should be the one submitting –, but I sincerely thank you for your time and consideration. At the very least, it is the longest response from an editor so far, and thus the best rejection letter I have received.
Please receive my best greetings
alks
Subject: Re: Your Submission to the ███ Journal From: A███ ███ a███@a███-journal.org To: alks ███@protonmail.com Date: Tuesday, November 15th, 2022 at 11:58 PM
Thank you for your kind reply, alks. We really do hope you'll submit again in the future. Warmly, A███
A███ ███, PhD Associate Editor The ███: A Journal of ███ ███, ███ & ███
Dream life ontology[4]
I dreamt all my life And thus never was[5] in control[6] Yet never felt pain[7]
Notes:
[1]: I lost the original submission form. To the best of my recollection, it was sent between the 11th and 30th of September 2022.
[2]: Personally identifiable information has been erased using ███. The length of the redacted part doesn’t reflect the length of the original text, i.e. "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" would appear as "███"
[3]: I had not noticed the CC of the first mail.
[4]: Since context was asked for, and although I believe neither it nor the author's intention are relevant, I'm providing it in the following notes. So, the theme of this haiku is the dream argument. However, it does not ask "What if I was living in a dream?", but "What if I was living the dream?". What would be the properties of a "dream life"?
[5]: This is just some weird wording, I don't know what took me.
[6]: The lucid dream is here considered as a particular case that cannot enlighten the general characteristics of dreaming. A founding principle of dreaming is thus the lack of control of the dreamer. If it wasn't the case, I doubt (lol) skepticism would even be raised in the first place.
[7]: The pain one feels in a dream is literally nothing compared to the pain one experiences while being awake. So someone that has dreamt all their life could never have experienced pain.