How I Moved From One Year of Rejections and No Recognition to Being Featured in The Kalahari Review

In 2020, I got my first poem published. I was over the moon. It felt like the beginning of something big. I imagined the doors it would open, the applause that would follow, the recognition that would come. But after that? Silence.

Eight months went by. No emails. No features. Just rejection after rejection. I kept writing. Kept hoping. A few acceptances came through — enough to keep me breathing. But by 2024, it felt like my poetic voice had gone unheard. That year was painfully quiet. No wins. No recognition. Just... nothing.

And for a poet, silence isn’t just stillness — it’s a slow death.

The only publication I got that year was in my university's magazine. And even that felt like a whisper compared to the roar I had once imagined. Still, somewhere deep within me, a new idea was forming. I started writing The Ones After Us — a collection that came from a raw, personal place. But I didn’t dare say it out loud.

I was scared.

Scared of rejection. Scared that my “best” might not be enough. Scared that what I had to say would be met with silence — again.

By December, I summoned the courage to send one of the poems out. Rejected. Again.

I was tired. I had been here before — high hopes, crashing lows. I told myself I was done.

But then… one random day, something in me refused to stay quiet.

I remembered The Kalahari Review. I had always admired it from afar, never feeling “good enough” to try. But this time, I told myself, just do it. What’s the worst that can happen?

I submitted.

They said they usually respond in two weeks.

But two days later… I got the email.

“Your piece is perfect for us.”

I read it again. And again. And again.

Something inside me lit up. After months of rejection, of doubt, of almost giving up — here it was: confirmation. That my voice still mattered. That my words still had a place in the world. That the flame in me hadn’t died — it was just waiting for this moment to roar again.

My poem was published on May 8th. I was also invited to speak at a poetry event. For the first time in a long time, I felt alive.

I’ve learned something I’ll never forget: the turning point often looks like the breaking point. The moment where you’re most discouraged might be the one right before your breakthrough.

So if you’re reading this and thinking of giving up, please — try one more time. The next "no" might not come. The next email might just say, “This is the perfect piece.”

PS: This is the link to my poem on the Kalahari Review

https://medium.com/the-kalahari-review/the-one-after-us-f8dfb4d9c8c0