"Lament for Rejection Letter Wednesday" by N. Arlowe Calder

APRIL 2026

Lament for Rejection Letter Wednesday

Doubt is always a bloodsucker—winged transport
for
depression’s
malarial
pillow—
for
depression’s
coffin
brochure
for
a bloodsucker, Doubt is always transportable—winged.

---

4/1/2026

N. Arlowe Calder is an emerging poet whose work explores the unprettified edges of human experience and the deliberate silences between words. Her poetry reimagines America as a terrain of reflection, fracture, and redemption. When not writing, she works at Starbucks and spends meditative time on hikes. She lives in Alexandria, Virginia.

"We write because we believe the human spirit cannot be tamed and should not be trained."

© 2026. All rights reserved.

- Nikki Giovanni