Emily as I Consider the Explanation
I have been accused
by Emily
of selling her
as a freshwater woman
while she has forever
considered herself
an ocean of sorts.
I suppose
I just needed
to explain
away why I lap
her tide. Too much
salt can kill you.
I don’t want
to be judged for this.
Emily as the Warm Front Scatters
It’s not enough
to challenge the seasons
while I strip Ohio
of our current book
of rules. I must save
the blueberries
from the muffins
as well. I must prove
that Emily can be
the whole landscape.
Maybe then, I can
become the storm.
Emily as an Inscription that Belies Potential Equivalencies
Emily still drinks gin
when she wears her battle
dress.
She drops
an earring
down the heating grate
& I know
tonight I’m getting
a new tattoo
on a different rib
in her stilted scrawl.
I always end up paying
more for the ink
when all the stores
should be closed.
Darren C. Demaree is the author of fourteen poetry collections, most recently Unfinished Murder Ballads (October 2020, Backlash Press). He is the recipient of a 2018 Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award, the Louis Bogan Award from Trio House Press, and the Nancy Dew Taylor Award from Emrys Journal. He is the Managing Editor of the Best of the Net Anthology and Ovenbird Poetry. He is currently living in Columbus, Ohio with his wife and children.
