The Furnace

A place almost unreachable, a place

for touch, some

where to put my hand, or rather

on something,

[so many kinds of furnaces]

before the circular

music starts and when I remember

[dark dark dark dark dark dark dark dark dark dark dark dark

light] the initial ignition startling,

until we get used to it,

that nature always saves us, except at the end

and sometimes then too.

Kevin McLellan

Kevin McLellan is the author of the full-length poetry collections, Ornitheology (2019 Massachusetts Book Awards recipient) and Tributary. He is also the author of 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.