DARREN C. DEMAREE
- Jun 9
- 1 min read
Darren C. Demaree is the author of twenty-five full-length poetry collections, most recently Got There: Poems on Vanishing, (April Gloaming Publishing, April 2026). He is the recipient of a Greater Columbus Arts Council Grant, an Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award, the Louise Bogan Award from Trio House Press, and the Nancy Dew Taylor Award from Emrys Journal. He is currently working in the Columbus Metropolitan Library system. www.darrencdemaree.com
EMILY AS I STAND COLD AND WATCHING THE WORLD
Fucking neon
signs, pain
with madness
& money
I don’t have,
a phantom life
I don’t have
& a way home
I always take.
EMILY AS A LONG TIME COMING
I’d give up
my thumbs
if they could
live inside
Emily
like the world
doesn’t end.
EMILY AS GRAVEL
It’s strange
how
the body is
located
by higher skies
when we’re let
down
by the sound
of our own
spinning wheels.
Witness
is a voice
at 3am
& Emily
is a body
all the time.
Listen.
I’m trying
to make it
music.
It’s not music.
It’s not religion.
It’s a window
& the wind
& she’s sitting
on my hands.
Bless.