An Overheard Conversation
by Kevin McLellan
Kevin McLellan is the author of Hemispheres (Fact-Simile Press, forthcoming), [box] (Letter [r] Press, 2016), Tributary (Barrow Street, 2015), and Round Trip (Seven Kitchens, 2010). He won the 2015 Third Coast Poetry Prize and Gival Press’ 2016 Oscar Wilde Award, and his poems have appeared in several journals including: American Letters & Commentary, Colorado Review, Crazyhorse, The Journal of Compressed Creative Arts, Kenyon Review, West Branch, Western Humanities Review, and Witness. Kevin lives in Cambridge MA.
What surprising, fascinating stuff can you tell us about the origin, drafting, and/or final version of “An Overheard Conversation”? It seemed necessary to start and end the poem with one line stanzas to represent the father’s need to exert oneness over his daughter and the oneness the daughter experienced as a result of this exertion. The very last edits were to the ending—the form changed from 1-2-1-2-1-2 to 1-2-1-2-1-2-1 in order to accommodate a one line stanza at the poem’s close. The ending changed from: show you something? / He says, “Nope.” to show you something? / He says “Nope” as he // reaches the sidewalk. to show you something? / He says, “Nope” once // he reaches the sidewalk I also wanted to imply that this was not an isolated experience, so the very last edit, the most surprising edit, was the removal of the period that ended the poem.
Check out the write-up of the journal in The Writer.
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Submissions
Poetry, creative nonfiction, and fiction/prose poetry submissions are now closed. The reading period for standard submissions opens again September 15, 2025. Submit here.
Upcoming
12/15 • Isabelle Ness
12/22 • Catherine Bai
12/29 • Stephan Viau
01/05 • Allison Blevins
01/12 • Justin Ocelot
01/19 • Yejun Chun
01/26 • Mathieu Parsy
02/02 • Robert McBrearty
02/09 • Sarah Daly
02/16 • Wayne Lee
02/23 • Terena Elizabeth Bell
03/02 • Michael Mirolla
03/09 • Nicholas Claro
03/16 • TBD
03/23 • TBD
03/30 • TBD