EMILY AS I PREPARE THE MEAL-KIT HOISIN PORK SLOPPY JOES
I want the painkillers our dog is taking. I want a new soul out of nothing. Emily says
this meal comes with potato buns. I want potato buns. I want days that are more than just was.
I want the clutching of my children during a pandemic to mean I love them enough to stay sober.
I want a lung to stay a lung. I want the mosquitos that track me from the creek bed to take the blood they need.
I want the words I use to be more than just coffin slang. I want a meal to once again be more than a eulogy of sorts.
Darren C. Demaree is the author of sixteen poetry collections, most recently “a child walks in the dark”, (Harbor Editions, November 2021). 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 Editor-in-Chief of the Best of the Net Anthology and the Managing Editor of Ovenbird Poetry. He is currently living in Columbus, Ohio with his wife and children.