Poem in NYQ (1 Viewer)

A few weeks ago I got an email from the editor of the New York Quarterly asking if I was the Mark Begley who had had a poem accepted by NYQ years ago. Well, I remembered the poem, so I was obviously the right Mark Begley, but didn't remember the acceptance (and figured I would have since it would have been a big deal to me). I guess after Packard died there were a bunch of backlogged poems that they had missing or incorrect contact info for, but thanks to the magic of the internet they have been tracking people down. I found my box of old work, along with the stacks of acceptance and rejection letters (the former much thinner than the latter) and right on top was the one from NYQ, dated 2/25/95! It started coming back to me, that time period is a bit hazy for some reason, and I remembered that I had never received copies of the mag nor heard anything else after that acceptance. I had moved a number of times and focused more on publishing than writing shortly after that year, so I probably simply forgot about it.
I guess the whole point of this is that it was kind of a cool, unexpected surprise 14 years later. The poem is supposed to appear in the late Spring/Summer issue, so if anyone gets the mag look for the poem Bike by yours truly. :)
 
Boy that's quite a long timer on a surprise. Absolutely crazy, but quite an awesome story.

14 years later, congratulations on the acceptance!
 
14 years? That's some delay! Anyway, it was very nice of them to try and track you down after all that time. Congrats!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
ha!
that is a great story.
I'll never complain about an editor taking a long time to respond again.
 
Haha, yeah, it's been so long I completely forgot about it. And thanks for the congrats, it is very nice after all this time. Other than getting into the Wormwood Review this was my crowning achievement. And, yes, I still like the poem.
 
Paitence is a virtue...even when you don't know you have it! Good for you, I look forward to reading this! (And I'm glad that you still like it!)CRB:)
 
Great Story, sounds like a poem about the poem waiting to happen.

Would you post the Poem in this thread? That would be really cool.

Thanks
 
Yeah, I think Hosh is right.

After reading the comments here I realized it is very cool of NYQ to try and track people down. Very professional. I would have never even thought about it most likely.
 
Dear Lttr Prssd, Spring/Summer is a long way off(esp. to us poor suckers in the NorthEast), PLEASE send a reminder about this when you get word of publishing issue! THanks in advance!CRB :)
 
Congrats is still in order Mark..
I'll raise an extra glass for you tonight.

With the growing tendency for online submission, how are the poets supposed to paper their walls. Cyber-rejections dont wear boots - they are embarrassingly lame and painless. And without the added chore of stuffing an envelope and paying for stamps - its like ANYONE will want to submit. Sigh.
 
Okay, so per my promise to CRB, I am posting a reminder about this. Issue #66 is out now, and is either in stores, or should be shortly. Pretty excited to get my contributor's copies after all this time. :) And I now realize that I posted this in January of '09! What's another year and half after a 14 year wait?
http://www.nyquarterly.org/issues/?id=66
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top