Nothing is concealed

once it’s on the table.

Tables never starve.

My children are still

silly. I’m still mixing

their favorite tastes

into the rest of our flour.

I don’t know what

we have left in those

unlabeled jars,

but I’m confident

in my wrists to give it

all away. We will never

be a painting, but we

will always know beauty.

We have hungry hearts.

We have hearts that will

always be hungry.

I’ll take any context

for the want

& for the sharing

& for this story that

can only end with

everyone looking

into the kitchen

& asking for flavors

that can remind us

of why we chose fire

to control the fire

to love with it

& to let it give rise

to our most human

appetite, more humanity.

Darren C. Demaree is the author of twenty-three poetry collections, most recently “So Much More”, (Small Harbor Publishing, November 2024).  He is the recipient of a Greater Columbus Arts Council Grant, 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 working in the Columbus Metropolitan Library system.