EMILY AS I READ HER JORIE GRAHAM’S THE END OF BEAUTY WHILE SHE MADE DINNER FOR THE FIVE OF US

I know we are creek people. Thirsty
& waiting. We are a family that uses fire. We are tender. 
That does not mean we are hopeless.

Darren C. Demaree

Darren C. Demaree is the author of fifteen poetry collections, most recently “Burning It Down”, (December 2020, 8th House Publishing).  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 Editor-in-Chief of the Best of the Net Anthology and the Managing Editor of Ovenbird Poetry.  He is currently living in Columbus, Ohio with his wife and children.