EMILY AS THE BELL CAN BE A CUP
​
There are too many poets
trying to tell you the sound
a bell can make 

in the early morning hours,
when nobody expects
to love any sound at all,

will change your life, will
bring you to a hillside
with a view. Hear me now:

if you turn the bell 
upside down, tap it with 
the tip of your tongue
an oasis will appear
for everyone that knows
the sun matters so little
to why the day begins
when it does. Drink the action
first, then paint what you can.

---

Darren C. Demaree is the author of sixteen poetry collections, most recently “a child walks in the dark”, (Harbor Editions, December 2021).  He is the recipient of an Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award, the Louise 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.