Something happened
& something
is going to happen

& I don’t care
about any of that action.
Emily is naked

& breathing slowly
beneath the covers
of this morning

& really, I don’t care
that she’s naked, either.
She’s breathing

& I’m breathing
& any weather would
hold us together.

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.