Daren Demaree

POEM FOR MY UNBORN THOMAS #68

Muscles condensed, the dark butter
of your soul will mostly wash away
in the given creek of your birth

& whistling through the seasons,
on the plate of your last season,
there will be only blood, my blood.

Please don’t be distracted
by the weather, the star, the breeze,
the misdirection of the other,

if you’re watching, holding stone
away from your mouth, your words
could be a lion, lost deep in Ohio.

POEM FOR MY UNBORN THOMAS #69

It’s not distillation, it’s dilution,
it’s a drop of sugar (your mother)
dispersing in a hopeful cloud
that our second sip will be sweet
like our first sip (your sister)
& the impossibly lovely (your mother)
will again bring you ashore,
where the only clouds for your worry
will have rain with a tangent
of chemical.  The lake (your father) full
of silt, of cast rocks, chipped brick
& violent silence (my father)
will be a framed picture for you
to ask about.  The answers, dead
fish (my memories) will confuse you
& distract only slightly from the poem
(your hesitant, calming family) that is
yours to edit as you so choose.  If
you find yourself stepping off
the man-made beach, yards from
your family tree, to dip a calf in the dark
dealings of the slight tide (Demaree),
the sound we make (your mother & I)
will be tin, obnoxious, cheap metal
scrapings.  You will be forced to return
to the guarded play of a young son.
Your defiant dive into the water
is a day I am already preparing for.

POEM FOR MY UNBORN THOMAS #70

Tadpole, spiral,
son the size of
an avocado, pit

declarative
of independence
& the ability

to create whole
worlds of fruit,
Alert your attention

to the intensity
of consciousness,
wave, sincerely

wave to us,
your gloved
gardeners,

so full of gear
you recognize
only our intent.

Daren C. Demaree is living in Columbus, Ohio with his wife and children.  He is the author of “As We Refer to Our Bodies” (September 30, 2013) and “Not for Art Nor Prayer” (2014), both from 8th House Publishing.  He is the recipient of two Pushcart Prize nominations and a Best of the Net nomination. 

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