Silly Rejection

On March 8, I submitted a few poems to Hotel Amerika. Today (April 18), I received the following rejection:

Dear Author,

Thank you for your interest in Hotel Amerika. Unfortunately, our reading period concluded on May 1, so we are returning your work to you unread.

*

It actually took me a while to figure out what was absurd about this! (If you have not figure it out yet, check the dates.) That's a sign either of how stupid I am or just how silly the letter is.