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Emily as I Prepare The Meal-Kit Pork Carnitas Bowl by Darren C. Demaree

September 6, 2020
Reading Time: 1 Minutes
There is an owl
that visits the dying
tree that fell
onto our backyard
shed. It arrives
as a blessing
I assume. I see it
through the kitchen
window sometimes.
I’ve set off
the smoke alarm
while I watch it
in tears from jalapeno
& the crushing idea
that this world
is a burnt place now.
There are still tools
in that shed.
I don’t want to touch
metal anymore.
I’ve offered my eyes
to that owl,
but I’m to see all
of this
& to keep feeding
the children.
Freedom requires
many witnesses.

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Poetry

Demaree, Darren C.
Darren C. Demaree is the author of fourteen poetry collections, most recently “Unfinished Murder Ballads”, (October 2020, Backlash Press). He is the recipient of a 2018 Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award, the Louis Bogan Award from Trio House Press, and the Nancy Dew Taylor Award from Emrys Journal. He is the Managing Editor of the Best of the Net Anthology and Ovenbird Poetry. He is currently living in Columbus, Ohio with his wife and children.

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