I hate rejections right before Christmas.
It’s best to get them out of the way, I guess,
but the message of exclusion doesn’t go with the season.
(Or maybe it does.)
The form rejections often apologize for their sterility,
explaining that personal responses are impossible
because of the large number of submissions.
Which is really editors saying: We’re popular;
you’re not.
And now most rejections arrive electronically,
so you can’t even crumple them
and hang them on the tree.