Forget the birdsong 
& the blooming, 

we are our coarse habits 
& short-cuts to pleasure. 

The fever gasps for us. 
We live for the sound. 

We’re famous for it. 
I’m obnoxious for her. 

I taunt the rest of things 
& limp for the efforts. 

We are not, now, young 
enough to wag the supreme, 

but ask me again how much 
I care about the other mouths 

that could call my name. 
Death is small 

& I am alive with Emily 
& nothing else would dare  

make sense in our time. 

Darren C. Demaree is the author of eighteen poetry collections, most recently “the luxury”, (Glass Lyre, January 2023).  He is the recipient of 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 the Editor-in-Chief of the Best of the Net Anthology and the Managing Editor of Ovenbird Poetry.  He is currently living in Columbus, Ohio with his wife and children.