Submission: RATTLE

They are having a special African-American edition in June 2009. So we'll see.

It's funny. I haven't had any acceptances to anything soliciting African-Americans. That's not the funny part lol. That's fine...there is stiff competition. But the 2 pieces that I have had accepted dealt with race (among other things) but the publications weren't focused on that subject. So that's nice (and possibly the funny part I was mentioning). I used to be afraid to talk about race, thinking that I would be declared a stereotypical black poet. My poetry professor (who is not black) must have sensed that and she started just lending me books out of the blue. The one that woke me up the most was Hip Logic by Terrance Hayes. The skill with which he dealt with race and all his politically oriented subjects amazed me. I knew I was only hurting myself by not allowing my poetry to represent me in my truest form. I'll be forever grateful to that professor because my poetry changed for the better and those pieces, my truest pieces, are the ones that are being accepted.

So yeah, I said all of that to say, odds are I won't get accepted for this one lol.