3 Poems by Darren C. Demaree

EMILY AS THE SHADOW IN THE CURVE

Perhaps the thousands
of bare acres
between Emily

& my views of Emily
provide no crop
& no cover

from any descending
hawk, because it’s up
to me to earn

the presence
of the light as it bends
to find her,

as it travels to be
curved, to be cupped
by her subtle warmth

& since that process,
like all processes
is seasonal,

there will always be
times like this,
where I can only

dream of Emily,
the stalk of her
reaching towards

what I always imagine
to be me as her
common, loving cue.


EMILY AS THE FIRE BURNS THE WALL

Tucked to combust
between

the floor
& the wall, I don’t

remember
the red I followed

to the gasoline
I followed to get here,

nose to nose with the arson
of my muddy,

urban heart,
but I do remember

she wore a yellow dress
that danced

while she stood still
enough to

be taken in a light wind
that I could swear

was singing my name.


EMILY AS SHE LEAVES THE SAME

It’s different to lie
down

& wait to be loved
by a person

that likes to drink
when she leaves

the house,
because she can’t

drink when she’s in
the house

& because she wants
to be a good person

that helps other people
in their recovery

she can’t bring herself
to touch the body

of the recovering
when she returns

from drinking, which
is what she

always does when
she leaves the house

& when she returns
there cannot be love,

because people
that want to be good

people never double
down on their mistakes

& she knows that if
she rubs tequila breath

into my thick flank
or her incredible breasts

that she’s spilled craft
beer on all over me I will cum

in a way that makes me
wish she would have

never asked me to quit
drinking in the first place.


Bionote

My poems have appeared, or are scheduled to appear in numerous magazines/journals, including the South Dakota Review, Meridian, New Letters, Diagram, and the Colorado Review.

I am the author of six poetry collections, most recently "Many Full Hands Applauding Inelegantly" (2016, 8th House Publishing). I am the Managing Editor of the Best of the Net Anthology and Ovenbird Poetry.

I am currently living and writing in Columbus, Ohio with my wife and children.

"Darren is a dangerous dreamer, concocting love poems to his home state, and pastorals to his true love. Bu...