Poetry By Darren C. Demaree

with an empathy so fatal #91
 
we are on the ground
because our hands
are not the tips
 
of wings
we are meant to stay
held next to a part of
 
the nest the all hunger
when we flatten
ourselves
 
to challenge gravity
that is when we drop
our neighbors
 
when we make promises
to the wind
we are as worthless
 
as a held breath
spittle that escapes
without any projection




with an empathy so fatal #92
 
suns go dead
we have hope
only because
 
we know the other
eyes blink as well
we are only alone
 
when we believe
ourselves to be
suns go dead
 
& i don’t know
how to make that
okay for children
 
to know i do know
i do know that
if they can hold
 
your hand when
you tell them
they will move on
 
without horror


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Darren C. Demaree's poems have appeared, or are scheduled to appear in numerous magazines/journals, including Hotel Amerika, 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.