Darren C. Demaree - EMILY AS

***

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.

*** 

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.

***

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.