Darren C. Demaree

Emily as a Charcoal Halo

I am secondary
to whatever play Emily is in right now.
There’s all this color

that was never there before.
It’s glorious.
We keep getting new tattoos.

I love the permanent art.
I don’t know when she started
drawing across her forehead

like she is, but I have no trouble
calling her a Queen
if she wants me to.

She called me a poet
for years.  Now, it all makes sense.
Now, we are in flux

with each other.
I don’t know what will happen tomorrow.
I’m not asking, either.
   

Emily as Most of the Thunder Is Just Theatre

I was the park
hiding from the moon
widening

all over the world
& I heard Emily
fake a thunder storm

just to get my attention.
She knows I like
the storms.

I didn’t know
she would be naked.
Adults are too weird

for the park,
but in the darkness
we can get away

with almost anything.
That’s how I got
away with Emily.
  

Darren Demaree is the author of eleven poetry collections, most recently Emily As Sometimes the Forest Wants the Fire (Harpoon Books, 2019).