If you can fit the beauty
in your mouth
what makes you brave,
to spit it out
or to let the giver of gifts
see you make it yours
forever? I’m not afraid
of disappearing, but Emily
shows me all the time
that when I make an offer
she will accept it
until one of us has empty
hands extended
& the other counts lips
as a promise to the bloom.
Photo by Uriel on Unsplash.
Darren Demaree’s poems have appeared, or are scheduled to appear, in numerous magazines/journals, including Hotel Amerika, Diode, North American Review, New Letters, Diagram, and the Colorado Review. He is the author of twenty-two poetry collections, most recently ‘blue and blue and blue’ (July 2024, Fernwood Press). He is the Editor in Chief of the Best of the Net Anthology and Managing Editor of Ovenbird Poetry. He currently lives and works in Columbus, Ohio with his wife and children.
