Submission 
 
Such was his passion for revision,
methodical cutting and stretching,  
the murder of babies and enjambment
that all his poems came to imagine  
they were seekers after asylum,
escaping from terror and torture,  
the fear of being imprisoned  
within a white space dominated  
by artificial rhymes and rhythms.
And so literary editors                                                                                                
became confused with civil servants
who screened for economic migrants
and accepted for publication  
only those deserving or possessed  
of special talents, those prepared to conform  
to current values and establish  
their credentials in less than forty lines.
These learned jobsworths were experts  
at wording the terms of rejection –  
“with regret on this occasion we found  
your tenor doesn’t match our ethos,  
your grammar isn’t up to standard;  
we found your angle too obtuse,  
too dark and disturbing, the language  
employed rather stark and unnerving.  
We can’t entirely believe your story  
is authentic. Your submission was given  
much consideration but, alas, with  
so many other entries to choose from              
we’re afraid you have missed the boat again.  
We wish you luck in finding somewhere else.”

Raymond Miller
 
 
If you have any thoughts on this poem, Raymond Miller would be pleased to hear them.