darren demaree / poem

4/6/25

I’m not holding fruit.

Ohio is a fatal bough.

There is test-hate here.

The pink, inner-thigh

of America is shaking

in our faces. I’m done

with the faithful. They

have no philosophies.

They burn the water

& butter their tea.

It’s a moribund tint

to dark pleasures

that always count

my friends exactly

& use my name 

as what kind of traitor

& no, no they have

the wrong lists. 

My crimes will be 

different. They’ve come

for my libraries.

They want the people

I serve to be dead people.

I’m not holding fruit.

I’m not melting sugar.

I’ve taken the lower limbs

from the trees they love

to use as staging

& I’ve gotten stronger

swinging them 

at anyone that looks like 

they’re enjoying this.

---

Darren 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 twenty-three poetry collections, most recently So Much More (November 2024, Harbor Editions), and is the Editor in Chief of the Best of the Net Anthology and Managing Editor of Ovenbird Poetry. He is currently living and writing in Columbus, Ohio with his wife and children.