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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