Darren C. Demaree

WE ARE ARROWS #25

Dangled obedience,
our flesh, the hinges
of our flesh, the adult
of our flesh, has
enough history to
plunge, compounded
by our exertions to be
a bird, to hunt the
sun, the worm, the
opened skins of our
grounded
contemporaries.
     I want most of
all to find the
momentum of gravity,
to become planted,
face first, into the
ribcage of a finch, to
nestle inside the torn
wings of it, to rename
it whatever I please.
        This is
why we have saved
flight for machines.
     This is why all
birds know their taste
for innards does little
to make them special.

Darren C. Demaree is living in Columbus, Ohio with his wife and children. He is the author of "As We Refer to Our Bodies" (2013) and "Not For Art Nor Prayer" (2014), both are forthcoming from 8th House Publishing. He is the recipient of two Pushcart Prize nominations.