[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”]Quandaries[/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. The Clearing
at the edge of a forest
seen from above, say
from an airplane, looks
like the back of this
man’s neck, the fine
hairline, a young man
who sits with his back
to me as I destroy
the heart-shape on top
of the cortado or
rather as I assert
a metaphor.
ii. Protrusions
draw attention to them-
selves and sometimes
out of context they’re
spectacles. For example:
a cactus arm on the floor
or antlers on the wall.
I can’t not look, and
sometimes I make men
uncomfortable. Leaps are
protrusions and pronouns
too. For example: a star-
fish arm fell off and she
grew back. Perhaps this
is why he can’t give up
cafés. Why I can’t stop
ordering cortados.[/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=”60117″ media_width_percent=”100″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_column_text]Kevin McLellan is the author of in other words you/ (winner of the 2022 Hilary Tham Capital Collection selected by Timothy Liu), Ornitheology (Massachusetts Book Awards recipient), Tributary, Round Trip and the book objects Hemispheres and