POETRY BY DARREN DEMAREE

Darren's poems have appeared, or are scheduled to appear in numerous magazines/journals, including the South Dakota Review, Meridian, The Louisville Review, Grist, and the Colorado Review. 

He is the author of "As We Refer To Our Bodies" (2013, 8th House), "Temporary Champions" (2014, Main Street Rag), and "Not For Art Nor Prayer" (2015, 8th House).  He is the Managing Editor of the Best of the Net Anthology.

Darren is currently living and writing in Columbus, Ohio with his wife and children.





THE STIMULI AFTER THE HISTORY HAS BEEN MADE

Great attempts

to keep it

together

after

the judgment

& the reckoning,

the story told

completely

& yet, the etc.

matters

in the present,

because what was

a gift or a triumph

will never know

how to fade away

& something must

know to fade away

or there will be

no ruins to decorate

or celebrate

or be buried in.

THERE IS SOME MATTER TOO SMALL TO BE FOUND BY THE LIGHT

Actual science

& actual art,

those black dots

that are never named

can never be framed

or sold as formula

& that ornery wrinkle

of process

& flailing, even in

victory

keeps us cold

enough to know

that the light

itself is black dots,

ecstatic dancers

bouncing off each

other, creating

believable energy.

THERE IS NO INSIDE OF HIM ANYMORE

If the hum

of the atoms

can do no more

than vibrate

with empathy

for the bronze

& marble

walls of man,

then what?

Then why?

The how?

That burn

is the smell

of an art

finding home.