Many years ago, when I started sending my work into the world, I came across The Pedestal Magazine. It became my white whale, the place I kept sending work to, and being rejected.
As my writing improved, I received personalized rejections, making it clear that they were taking my work seriously. Then the personalized rejections turned into “you were among the finalists,” but still didn’t make it into the pages.
During this time, the published wonderful reviews of both the Colored page and The Third Renunciation
After 25 years, Pedestal has published their last issue, and my poem “when asked if, as a veteran teacher, I’ve gotten used to it” has been included in its pages.