geography, Katy Perry and rejection letters

my sister is in Baltimore flirting with Camus, my brother is in North Carolina learning Italian, and my yin leaves tomorrow morning for Rishikesh. sadly i have been largely picture-less this past week, but she did encounter a Bengal two days ago in Ranthambore National Park:

you can read more about the tiger here

oddly enough, Katy Perry was there at approximately the same time, getting married or honeymooning or something. i'm really not clear on who Katy Perry is, but i know she's a famous singer of some sort and wrote a song about kissing girls.

thankfully, Katy Perry is beside the point.

the point is that my university is trying to raise AIDS awareness, and as part of their festivities have issued a call for poetry, essays and short stories. i submitted a poem two years ago, and the rejection letter read, in part:

Dear Mr. B___:

Thank you for participating... We received many excellent, thought-provoking submissions. Unfortunately, the Literary Expressions judges did not choose your work as one of the tops two entries. However, we do thank you for allowing us to share in your experiences with HIV/AIDS... Best of luck to you in the future...

this stands in stark contrast to the rejection letter i received last week:

Dr. Mr. B___:

Thank you for your interest in reviewing the books on Chris Marker for C_______. I'm afraid, however, that your proposal is far too academic for us. I suggest you try one of the academic journals.

Thank you for your consideration.

i'm torn as to which one i prefer. the first one is certainly better-written, but it is also painfully generic. there was an entire paragraph (redacted for your pleasure) devoted to plugging events associated with their World AIDS activities.

the second one, on the other hand, is short, sweet and tells me where i can stick my proposal (approximately). best of all, i like that they address me as "Dr. Mr. B___" because it's utterly baffling. since i'm not a doctor, and certainly didn't represent myself as such, i assume that 'Dr.' is an abbreviation for 'Dear.'

to my knowledge this is a non-standard abbreviation, but perhaps the book review editor at C_______ is too busy to deal with those middle two letters.

i need to return to the point.

the point is that i plan on submitting an essay to the AIDS Committee this year and tell a more direct and personal tale than the obtuse poem i submitted in 2008. there is a small cash prize associated with winning, but my main motivation is just to practice the whole submissions process. rejection is an inevitable aspect of all creative endeavors, and each time someone says 'no,' i believe that it nurtures that part of us that, as Chris Marker says, "insists on drawing profiles on prison walls."

with that in mind, i offer a revamped version of the poem that garnered my previous rejection. read it in whatever direction appeals to you:

(kissing) cousins

Kissing cousins

seven years old

to Grandmother’s house we go

Holidays home

nineteen and closetless

stained sheets and seventeen

weekend beers at auntie’s

singlewide lust

single widelust

Grandma says

that college done changed my

Kissing cousins

have you heard the sound of the cardinal

falling on a Sunday afternoon?

One gone Junky

one gone Queer;

illusions of Burroughs in every line

how many licks does it take to get to the two c-note sinner?

One gone straight

two got tested

retractions of allusion

in every rhyme

how many sticks does it take to get to the T-cell winner?

Come back in three months:

waiting…

waiting…

waiting…

Close the door.