MENTORSHIP RECIPIENT

Mentor Commentary:
Jeanette Beebe

Recipient Reflection: 
Cam McGlynn

On "Postpartum Depression" ​by Cam McGlynn

by Jeanette Beebe

I chose Cam as my mentee for this issue because I was struck by her poem, "Postpartum Depression." The sonnet moves back and forth like the ocean that's in this poem, not a gut punch that "smack[s] / of scornfulness" like "a taste of brass" but instead something subtler, perhaps something more insidious, somehow, "lulling / to-and-fro." I admired that movement, the quiet patience of it. To the speaker, depression is a "vast" thing that takes you under. There's an ocean inside her — and crucially, it's "indifferent." 

My impression of Cam was the opposite of this "indifferent" ocean: in our work together, she was pointed, particular, and attuned, carefully focusing on the small things. During her revision process, she changed a few lines and also the ending, which turns as a sonnet does. "I invented" is so powerful to me — the poem frames that revelation perfectly.

Jeanette Beebe

Jeanette Beebe is a poet and journalist. She was a finalist for the Iowa Review Award in Poetry. Her poems have appeared in The Journal, Salamander, Sixth Finch, Juked, Bayou Magazine, Poet Lore, and elsewhere. Nominated for Best New Poets and a Pushcart Prize, she formerly served as social media manager for Nat. Brut. She got into poetry through spoken word, with stage-to-page poems stapled into zines — a journey that led her to the Brave New Voices Poetry Slam as a member of Minneapolis/St. Paul’s team. She holds an A.B. in English from Princeton University with certificates in Creative Writing and Gender & Sexuality Studies. She lives in Akron, Ohio. Her website is www.jeanettebeebe.com.​