When the self-addressed stamped envelope

 

from this week in 2015  (I was 70)

 

When the self-addressed stamped envelope

returned marked Rejected

or stated so in curt form-letter language

I thought they meant the enclosed manuscript

But I was young and it was so much more

They rejected the very idea that it was worthwhile

for them to take the time to put it in the SASE

distasteful to moisten the glue to seal its fate

But they did it because it was their job

In the end they felt they had the final word

from some anonymous writer even if they had not

I learned to repay rejection with rejection

It is an easy thing to learn

At the farmers’ market an unsavory acquaintance

is easily ignored among the selection of peaches

The committee appointed to draft a mission statement

doesn’t miss a missing member

A class shouldn’t require dinner at the professor’s house

It is a presumption beyond the scope of course description

Reunions should be as brief and meaningless

as the memories they rekindle

So in spite I mailed another failure in

With a return envelope addressed to them