Wednesday, September 5, 2018

Darren C. Demaree - Three Poems


1. 
EMILY AS THE PARACHUTE DESCENDED WITHOUT A BODY

There are some lists
that need to be burned
before we can believe

that gravity isn’t just
a possibility.  I gave up
a soul without knowing

if it was mine.  I tasted
all of the cranberries
before I spit them out.

I looked up at the sky
to watch the fabric drape
the blue momentarily

& I assumed (still do)
that the hand that held
mine was Emily’s.


 ***
2.
EMILY AS A SONG WRITTEN BY HAZEL ENGLISH

We asked for the pause
of the Technicolor
so our blood could spin

with a firm reality
& the fog, the fog came
all on its own.  We left

Ohio so we could leave
Ohio.  That cost us
our hips.  We still tingle

for the full words,
but all this driving
has become addicting.

 ***
3.
EMILY AS SHE SUGGESTS THAT SHE MIGHT LIKE TO BECOME MORE LIKE THE EMILY IN THESE POEMS

I want to hit you,
Emily said, I’ve never hit anyone
before.  I agreed

to this lone spasm
of violence, because I have
dedicated myself

to cataloging her spasms,
to inventing her spasms, to fiction-
alizing her spasms in a way

that leads to her tasting them,
poorly.  She spits at me
a lot.  I have some regrets.


1 comment: