Darren Demaree: "Emily as the rest of the horses"

EMILY AS THE REST OF THE HORSES

I quit
the illicit
lightnings
 
of my youth,
not because
they were
 
turning me
into glass
on the beach,
 
but because
I found
a better ride
 
down from
the clouds.  Drugs
& all
 
of the whiskey
& almost all
of the women,
 
they were
the same horse.
Emily
 
turned out
to be the rest
of the horses.

Darren C. Demaree is the author of six poetry collections, most recently“Many Full Hands Applauding Inelegantly" (2016, 8th House Publishing). He is the Managing Editor of the Best of the Net Anthology and Ovenbird Poetry. He is currently living in Columbus, Ohio with his wife and children.

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