The flutter is useless.
The influence of the sun is useless.
Love is a width
that can defy physics.
It takes a weight
& propels it upward as if
it has no other properties
but the magic
after the point you realize
that this shouldn’t happen,
but it does when Emily is around.
She stands still
on the dock, regardless
the whole landscape bows to her
& for a moment
it feels like all of the animals
have risen above the water
like a fat gull, full & free.
——
Darren C. Demaree’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 eight poetry collections, most recently ”Two Towns Over” (March 2018), which was selected as the winner of the Louise Bogan Award by Trio House Press. He is the Managing Editor of the Best of the Net Anthology and Ovenbird Poetry. He is currently living and writing in Columbus, Ohio with his wife and children.