Kevin McLellan

poet and video artist; author of two collections of poetry, two book objects, and a chapbook; winner of the Third Coast Poetry Prize and the Gival Press Oscar Wilde Award; Pushcart Prize nominee; his work has appeared in Apple Valley Review, TSR, The Journal of Compressed Creative Arts, Waxwing, West Branch, Crazyhorse, Contrary, Colorado Review, Hunger Mountain, Adroit Journal, Borderlands, Salamander, Salt Hill, and many others

 

DEAR CANARIES,

Thank you for sending the sparrow
emissary

to remind me of space
and to encourage light.

I miss your singing
voices and consequently mornings.

Routine
is now too much about myself. The cage

sits there. Insists that I’m an animal.
That I need to travel.