After taking a year long hiatus, it feels great to be back.  There’s a joy in knowing new people are discovering and loving the poems featured in Poetry Breakfast.  Giving poets a wider audience for their work is, of course, a major part of my mission as editor.

But, it’s also heartwarming seeing submissions from poets who have been sharing their work with Poetry Breakfast since it first began in 2012.  The familiar names are like friends arriving in my inbox.  And oh, how painful it is when I have to send a rejection to one of them.  Not for the quality of work.  Our regulars here are good.  Subject matter is usually the reason.  Sometimes I just get too many submissions on one topic or the other and can only accept a few.  But I think maybe I’m starting to ramble.  Let’s just leave it at, I do feel like a friend just sent me a letter when I get a submission from a poet previously published here at Poetry Breakfast.

Don’t worry.  I’m good at separating my joy and judgement.  Recognizing a name doesn’t influence my decision to accept a poem or not.  It just makes me happy to get the submission.  And makes me feel even worse if I have to send a rejection.  It really does make my stomach turn when I have to send out those rejections.

Steering away from the depressing though of rejections, there’s another thing that’s been a delight to see now that Poetry Breakfast is serving up poetry again.  I’ve received a lot of comments and messages from readers about how happy they are to be getting new poems.  Some readers started receiving our morning poems via email in 2012 and they’re excited to have the poetry flow into their inboxes in 2019!

I can’t take credit for the folks who have loved the poems all these years nor for the new followers we’ve gained in these first few days of Poetry Breakfast reopening.  It really is the poems that keep people reading.  The poets deserve the credit for that.  All I can say is that I’m thankful to all the poets who submit their work and to all the readers who trust me to find the best jewels of language I can for them.

It’s great to have Poetry Breakfast back, great to have so many poets and readers back, and wonderful to see our Poetry Breakfast community growing.

Wishing the best to all of you,

Kay Kestner, Editor

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