neverwell #37

I know how best
not to dream
at night. No matter
how much I sweep
I know the dust
remains in the air.
I live, necessarily,
without a picture
of the hole
behind my eyes.
I speak quietly
all the time.
I’m not supposed
to be thought of
in the morning.

neverwell #38

My births
have all
been steady.
It’s the dying
I can’t do
for shit.
It’s the living
I can’t apple.

neverwell #39

Most of my wanting
is lost in the translation
from Ohio to Ohia.

Photo by Tom Driggers

Darren C. Demaree

Darren C. Demaree is the author of fourteen poetry collections, most recently Unfinished Murder Ballads (October 2020, Backlash Press). He is the recipient of a 2018 Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award, the Louise Bogan Award from Trio House Press, and the Nancy Dew Taylor Award from Emrys Journal. He is the managing editor of the Best of the Net Anthology and Ovenbird Poetry. He is currently living in Columbus, Ohio with his wife and children. 

Find him at darrencdemaree.com or on Twitter @d_c_demaree