darren demaree

Decom(poses)

it was always
an alternative
to the photos

that held us
together too well
i kept moving

until the first four
books of my life
became spectrums

the light held
apart from me
then i aged

with the humor
that is not all loss
one kept promise

a warning
to the world
that i could

exist in echoes
that i was an echo
that i was given

just enough time
to carve my body
loose from the cliffside

did you see me no
did you claim me no
that splash though

Darren’s poems have appeared, or are scheduled to appear in numerous magazines/journals, including Hotel Amerika, Diode, North American Review, New Letters, Diagram, and the Colorado Review. He is the author of nineteen poetry collections, most recently 'neverwell' (June 2023, Harbor Editions). He is the Editor in Chief of the Best of the Net Anthology and Managing Editor of Ovenbird Poetry. He currently lives and writes in Columbus, Ohio with his wife and children.