Three Poems by Darren C. Demaree

Emily as Sea Wind

 

Hips called to be spun out

by the beautiful, devastating
language of the salted water,

my woman doesn’t need
a ship to stand broad-chested
to the whip, the circle

& movement of restored light,

that always finds the land
irresistible to a proper teasing.



Emily as Spurn of the Root

The yellow grass

never makes it
to the truck, never

roars past the root,

the spread wide
reflection of a small

thing staying small

above the black dirt.
Emily, the bare hand

of my summer days,

she is run-off, yellow
grass, she is working

in the nutrient to

awaken the spread
to lift the discovery

of what I missed

before I found
myself ankle deep,

searching for it.

Flush to my lips,
she flies like a flower

intent on imprint,

a patient dandelion,
held on to with caution.

Emily as a Lake, a Lilac

 

Maybe you thought, the shore

of beauty was somehow less
beautiful? Eager to be shoulder

& splash, Emily is the lake

& the purple lilac, she is beauty
& almost beauty, she is what

shakes the walls of all beauty

& collects its to rattle heat
down from the jealous, sky gods.

Darren C. Demaree is living in Columbus, Ohio with his wife and children. He is the author of "As We Refer To Our Bodies" (2013) and "Not For Art Nor Prayer" (2014), both collections are to be published by 8th House Publishing House. He is also the recipient of two Pushcart Prize nominations.