Salt Hill

Just got a rejection from Salt Hill today... from October 1st, 2007.

All of the poems have since been accepted elsewhere, and because I never received anything from them (until now, of course), I already have another batch of poems that I sent to them a few months ago.

Any rejection beyond nine months (especially since most are form at that point), let's face it, is kind of annoying, but yes, it happens, and we deal with it. But what really annoys me is they sent back the seven or eight pages comprising the manuscript. I had 41 cents on the envelope.

Dear Salt Hill Editors,

Folding eight sheets of paper into a smaller window still makes eight sheets of paper the same exact weight. That means that in order for the post office to send it back to me, they need more postage, and if you're not willing to do that, which I wouldn't expect you to, please just send back the rejection slip.

What I realized was a day before I left to go back to Pennsylvania for Christmas to see my family the post office sent me a note that I had a pick-up that needed extra postage. I didn't have time the next morning to run there, so I put the note aside, and eventually forgot about it or didn't see it or misplaced it when I got back to Richmond.

But the fact remains: a ton of feathers weighs the same amount as a ton of lead.

At any rate, there have been other times this has happened with Salt Hill.

Am I the only one having problems with them?

It's as simple as not sending them work anymore, I suppose.

But again, and as always, I've been fairly lucky in the last few years to have such minimal problematics when it comes to weird situations like these, which is nice.

And thanks to the USPS for finally delivering it after almost four weeks, when it could've gone in the trash anyway.