2 poems
by darren C. demaree
EMILY AS ONE FOOT ON THE DANCE FLOOR
I have just enough ego
to look like a fool
without Emily around.
EMILY AS SHE’S NO LONGER TICKLED BY THESE POEMS
I don’t think anyone understands.
I am captive. Each of these poems
is a cement block
that raises the tower
Emily never asked me to build.
Each time I write one of these
the tower becomes less
about the woman
& more about me.
Just because I am sober now,
that doesn’t mean I’m not
still terrible. Don’t worry.
I will forget this feeling
soon. I never remember long
enough to be good for her.
Darren c. Demaree
Darren C. Demaree is the author of nine poetry collections, most recently “Bombing the Thinker”, which was published by 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.