poetry by Darren Demaree

Darren’s manuscript, Two Towns Over, has won Trio House Press’ Louise Bogan Award and will be published soon. Visit his site here.

EMILY AS WE WHISPER DESCENT

 I wanted to show Emily
(in a way no one else could see)
that I could be disgusting

& cavalier at the same time,
that I could lower us in a way
that rooted our bodies

to the neglected levels
of human experience, to
the retention pond

of our desires.  She followed me
there (in a way no one else
could see) & she waited.

She squirmed.  She smiled.
I offered her the only portrait
I owned of us

& what it showed her
wasn’t pretty, wasn’t safe
& what it was caked in

we couldn’t bring back with us.
I don’t think we did anything
terrible to each other,

but we never went back there.
If you ever find that portrait of us,
know that it was much more

about the exploration than
the confirmation of our love.
I wish for nothing else.