Saturday, August 11, 2018

Darren C. Demaree - with an empathy so fatal #115-117




Darren C. Demaree is the author of eight poetry collections, most recently ''Two Towns Over' (March 2018), which was selected as the winner of the Louise Bogan Award by Trio House Press. He is also the Managing Editor of the Best of the Net Anthology and Ovenbird Poetry. 

His poems have appeared, or are scheduled to appear in numerous magazines/journals, including Hotel Amerika, Diode, Meridian, New Letters, Diagram, and the Colorado Review. 

Darren currently lives and works in Columbus, Ohio. 


***
with an empathy so fatal #79

everything is distant
from a torn sleeve
even

the shaking hand
that holds the cloth
trophy

is distant how glad
i am to know
that all violence

is permanent
in that way
each act so forceful

that it creates
fresh oceans
fresh edges of earth

for all those names
to disappear over
all salt is good salt


***
with an empathy so fatal #80

i showed my children
the hooks
so they could decide

what to do
with the hooks
& after they decided

to pierce their own lips
with those sharp hooks
i understood

that their inelegant
kindnesses would
cost them terribly

that cost is always there
& i am proud of them
for understanding that

it’s not fair for them
it’s not fair for us
it’s not fair

but that is our gift
to be consumed without
asking about fairness

***
with an empathy so fatal #81

our tongues
are to be eaten
by the voiceless

the blood lost
is to be spit back
for those

that need it do
not waste thread
on our wounds


***
with an empathy so fatal #115

there is a difference
between empathy
& sacrifice

but it’s useless
to be so gifted
that the difference

might matter to you
it doesn’t matter
to me i am gifted

enough to be alive
that means i can
think about you

without considering
the assassins
that are watching

  
***
with an empathy so fatal #116

i look at you
exactly how i feel
i see you

are hungry
i am hungry as well
shall we eat

together
at the pizza place
that takes

only cash
i’ve been carrying
this twenty

for a haircut
i don’t need yet
let’s eat pizza

***

with an empathy so fatal #117

i walked out of my house
to join you erratic bodies
be un-gentle be my sun