“Objective Correlative”

Kevin McLellan

Artist Statement: "Objective Correlative" is a quasi-rant with narrative interruptions from the glass blower (the you) and the grammarian (the objective speaker) and the police with the young couple, yet the insincere invitation for dinner returns and allows for a subjective cranky speaker to vent about it and them.

Yoo-hoo! 

You  

who  

led me to believe  

you cared  

by inviting me  

over  

to dinner.  

The glass- 

blower  

with all the  

duct tape  

who refused  

to go duck  

hunting  

with the grammarian.  

The police  

out front  

again and the young 

couple who  

clearly recently  

fucked  

but aren’t  

holding hands.  

Oh  

I forgot to tell you  

the soup  

was cold  

yesterday 

and sorry  

about my in- 

flexibility.  

 

Kevin McLellan is the author of: the full-length poetry collections, Ornitheology (2019 Massachusetts Book Awards recipient) and Tributary; the book objects, Hemispheres (which resides in the Poetry Center at the University of Arizona and other special collections) and [box] (which resides in the Blue Star Collection at Harvard University and other special collections); and the chapbook, Round Trip. Kevin is also Duck Hunting with the Grammarian—his video, Dick showed in the Flickers’ Rhode Island Film Festival, the Tag! Queer Film Festival, the Berlin Short Film Festival, and the Vancouver Queer Film Festival. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. https://kevmclellan.com/