When I arrive at stones,
I remember my chronic
nature, I remember that

I think, incorrectly, that
these poems are all spring
poems, but they are actually

deep in stale summer
& apocalypse poems.
How wonderful for me

to be so distracted by a girl
for so long that the girl
becomes something else

& the world becomes
something else
& then I die, quite happy.
Darren C. 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 Colorado Review. He is the author of 22 poetry collections, most recently blue and blue and blue (Fernwood Press). He 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.