3 Poems by Darren Demaree

EMILY AS A MAP FOR THE INVISIBLE THINGS

I am lost
all the time
because Emily,

the valleys
of Emily,
don’t ever lead

me anywhere
real.  Please,
don’t send help.

EMILY AS WHAT THE WATER WILL BECOME

I have been held by Emily
in a way that disturbed history
as I understood it.

I am still predicting exactly
what she will become
after she cradles me

for a lifetime.  She makes it
incredibly difficult to want
to disappear completely.

EMILY AS EVERYTHING’S GONE

& yet,
I have
a home

in her
refusal
to leave

what is
empty
& yet,

Darren Demaree‘s poems have appeared, or are scheduled to appear in numerous magazines/journals, including Diode, Meridian, New Letters, Diagram, and the Colorado Review. He is the author of eight poetry collections, most recently ”Two Towns Over’ (March 2018), which was selected as the winner of the Louise Bogan Award by Trio House Press. He is the Managing Editor of the Best of the Net Anthology and Ovenbird Poetry. He is currently living and writing in Columbus, Ohio with his wife and children.