It couldn’t be any harder to bet on a horse or gamble on a stock than it is to submit poems. Even if there’s no exchange of money, there’s a sense of sending out your soul for approval.
Journal editors ask that we, the submitters, *read* the journal before submitting. Definitely do your homework, but even so, there are tremendous odds against one of your poems being selected.
How often have I chosen, printed, folded and placed five poems I’m sure are my best work in an envelope? How often have I waited months for a positive response, and then received that horrible super-flat envelope (which, I might add, I addressed to myself)?
