Frank S. Palmisano III

The Glory Seeker

All I wanted was a lousy autograph,
but I didn't get that lousy autograph
instead I got the standard rejection letter,
the greeting so many writers
fear, paint red "X's" on doorframes
hoping the wings of terror pass
by peacefully.

And I wondered how they mixed
up the request and if
they read my request at all.
I imagined some tawdry lout
locked in a dusty room
with only the light of a street lamp
to guide his eyes across the page
and how he must have squinted
when he got to "Dear Mr. Ferlinghetti"
and assumed it was more of the
same hopeless drivel, looking for
room at an inn that has none.

h

Frank S. Palmisano III is a 27-year-old poet whose work has appeared in close to 100 poetry journals and other mediums, including Rattle, Wisconsin Review, and Bender. In his practical life, he works as a technical writer for the U.S. Army Research Laboratory at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland and just finished up a teaching assignment as an adjunct professor of English at Towson University. His first book of poetry, tentatively titled Synaptic Misfires and Other Tortured Tales From the Left Brain is due out this year through JVC Books. Despite these accomplishments, his most impressive moment came recently when his admission application was rejected by the Creative Writing Program at the University of Maryland.

h