“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/