Another Surprise

The surprise is not in the letters that come
this one today and another just like it
with kindest regards, thank you, we’re sorry
the judge has decided, the results are in
the contest is over and I didn’t win.
But this should not be any special revelation
it’s all part of the same
the surprise, if you’d see it,
is that I submit, again and again
to what will, almost certainly, be
another rejection letter.

(2012)