[vc_row row_height_percent=”50″ override_padding=”yes” h_padding=”2″ top_padding=”3″ bottom_padding=”3″ back_image=”56863″ back_position=”center top” overlay_alpha=”0″ gutter_size=”3″ shift_y=”0″][vc_column column_width_percent=”100″ position_vertical=”bottom” style=”dark” overlay_alpha=”50″ gutter_size=”3″ medium_width=”0″ shift_x=”0″ shift_y=”0″ zoom_width=”0″ zoom_height=”0″ width=”1/1″][vc_custom_heading heading_semantic=”h1″ text_size=”fontsize-338686″ text_height=”fontheight-179065″ text_space=”fontspace-111509″ text_font=”font-762333″ text_weight=”700″ text_color=”color-xsdn” sub_reduced=”yes” subheading=”by Kevin McLellan”]Before the Hard Freeze[/vc_custom_heading][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_empty_space empty_h=”2″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]I couldn’t do anything
about it, swallowed
a shallow lake, arctic
one, wore a first barrette.
Natural way
to identify as female,
right? My hair long
enough. Also
a first. And then what
could be a last time
when I move to
Vermont. Mountains
I am drawn to. A thing
meant to last.
Unnerving, I will not,
not from lack but
from the quality of
dreams. My sunken
eyes. In the details of
remembering
innocence, the pileup.
Why I am growing
out my hair.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column column_width_percent=”100″ align_horizontal=”align_center” overlay_alpha=”50″ gutter_size=”3″ medium_width=”0″ mobile_width=”0″ shift_x=”0″ shift_y=”0″ z_index=”0″ width=”1/1″][vc_empty_space][vc_separator sep_color=”color-184322″ el_width=”30%”][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column column_width_percent=”100″ align_horizontal=”align_right” overlay_alpha=”50″ gutter_size=”3″ medium_width=”0″ mobile_width=”0″ shift_x=”0″ shift_y=”0″ z_index=”0″ width=”1/3″][vc_single_image media=”58794″ media_width_percent=”100″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_column_text]Kevin McLellan—author of: Ornitheology (2019 Massachusetts Book Awards recipient); Tributary; Hemispheres (resides at the University of Arizona’s Poetry Center and other special collections); [box] (resides in the Blue Star Collection at Harvard University and other special collections); and Round Trip—makes videos as Duck Hunting with the Grammarian. https://kevmclellan.com/[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][/vc_column][/vc_row]