As I got the mail today I noticed that I had a submission returned. My first thought was, "Huh?" I try to make sure I'm as up to date with everything as much as possible before I send out: checking websites last minute to make sure guidelines haven't changed, double-checking email and snail mail addresses, if they need to know if it's a simultaneous submission, etc. Far from O.C.D., but I pride myself on trying to at the very least not waste their time or mine (unless, of course, they hate the poems I send, and I'm sure that's happened on more than one occasion).
That said, the submission was to the Antietam Review, and the submission was sent with a batch almost a year ago: October 1st, 2007. They wanted three poems max (like New South, which is still a bit odd to me, but that's what they ask for), so I sent them three poems. Since then they've all been picked up, but I went to the website again anyway and saw this:
The Antietam Review, the popular literary journal published by the Washington County Arts Council, was suspended in 2006. The organization's management made the decision to halt publication based on escalating costs and staffing factors. Plans to re-introduce the magazine as an electronic publication are under discussion.
Unfortunately, old web pages exist forever, and if you have responded to an old online request for submission or application guidelines, these submissions are being returned. We regret any inconvenience this may have caused.
If it was suspended in 2006, why was their website not updated right near 2008? I'm pretty sure I didn't miss that; otherwise I wouldn't have sent work. At any rate, I pulled my 41 cent SASE, added a 2 cent stamp, and shredded the rest.
I suppose all-in-all, for the 3 years or so that I've been sending out poems, it's nice to know that out of all of them, only one original submission came back to me. And the fact that the USPS had it floating around for a year before returning it to sender makes me have a little more faith in them too.
