FRANKLIN HIRAM KING WRITES A BOOK CALLED “THE SOIL”

 

The one who begs

the elements

to be no more

than elemental

also prays

that his wife’s mouth

may be more

than the dust

she swallows trailing

you around

the dry seasons.

It’s simple that way.

Simple compounds

into the whole

of the universe.  It

does that every time.

 

 

FRANKLIN HIRAM KING GIVES A SPEECH ON FERTILITY

 

The tether

is always

tied to where

& when

you stick

the seeds in.

 

 

FRANKLIN HIRAM KING SPENDS HIS FINAL YEARS LEARNING HOW TO PROPERLY VENTILATE FARM BUILDINGS

 

After the generations have built

on the nothingness

of a land bought as a gamble

akin to that of a horse race

where every animal has been

blinded before the gun goes off,

King knew that the level of effort

lent itself to one family member

going mad with the process

& trying to take all of the manure

& all of that tightly packed crop

& blow up the whole deal.  King

knew that was a common thought.

He also knew those places smelled

like shit all of the time.  He was

a great man.  He invented battles

to fight.  He fought all of them

in a way that always catches

me by surprise.  He shoved

both hands into this world

& each time he showed his palms

to the farmer there was already

a design to better the exertion.

 

 

 

Darren C. Demaree’s poems have appeared, or are scheduled to appear in numerous magazines/journals, including the South Dakota Review, Meridian, New Letters, Diagram, and the Colorado Review. Darren is the author of five poetry collections, most recently “The Nineteen Steps Between Us” (2016, After the Pause). He is the Managing Editor of the Best of the Net Anthology and Ovenbird Poetry. 

Darren is currently living and writing in Columbus, Ohio with his wife and children.

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