A Brief Suspension of History #32 amd #33

Darren C. Demaree

A Brief Suspension of All History #32

Unknotting, my hobo
heart, functioning like
an engine, beautiful,

no longer in need of pills,
it still carries a whiff
of cheap wine, of women

& their rattled stances.
Nervous moments, always
nervous around myself,

I imagined drowning
in my own air
would be less of a sensory

explosion. I know, still,
how awful my arms can be
& in that room, with that

man, I hesitate to love
my wife with the same
blood, the same adrenaline.

Darren C. Demaree

A Brief Suspension of All History #33

Outside of the crown
virtue, I know nothing
of gun smoke, I know

everything about triggers
& as I watch the fool
take the moon for a ride,

indiscriminately accurate
with punctures, my hands
are a real crime scene.

The body on my wrists
is my own, but the flare
from the muzzle touched

sky, then meant nothing
to any sense of any heaven.
I testify only of my failing.

_______________
Darren C. Demaree’s poems have appeared, or are scheduled to appear, in numerous magazines/journals, including The South Carolina Review, Meridian, The Louisville Review, Grist, The Main Street Rag, and Whiskey Island. He has authored “As We Refer To Our Bodies” (September 30, 2013) and “Not For Art Nor Prayer” (2014), both from 8th House Publishing House. He is the recipient of three Pushcart Prize nominations and a Best of the Net nomination. He currently lives in Columbus, Ohio with his wife and children.