She is ungentle
most of the time,
but we’re twenty years
of her never shelving
me. I’m out, ribboning
both sides of her curve.
I like to be active
& wait for her to thwap
me into position.
Darren C. Demaree is the author of twenty-one poetry collections, most recently in defense of the goat as it continues to wander towards the certain doom of the cliff (forthcoming from April Gloaming, February 2024). He is the recipient of a Greater Columbus Arts Council Grant, an 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 working in the Columbus Metropolitan Library system.