Darren C. Demaree

WE ARE ARROWS #26

Locked into the black
bear thrashing against
the flow of the river, I
took one picture of his
empty paws, I took
one picture of his
desire to consume any
fish willing to leave
the water, I took one
picture of our
campsite after he
destroyed it.
            Fruitless, a
garnered lacking, I
have never cared more
about nature than I
did after he took a
swipe at the car we
were hiding in.
            I wanted to be
that bear.
We all wanted
to be that bear.
            If we,
in failure, had the
strength to turn the
countryside into the
littering of our
tantrums, our real
fights would last only
one fishing trip, and
our hearts would be
tremendous with such
unruly strength.

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.