Vol. 2, No. 4: Malice at the Ice Palace photo

An Elegy for Bob Sura's Third Straight Triple DoubleDarren C. Demaree

The rudiments of any tempest

are an empty room.

The polyphony

 

of an average man

finishing his performance

with a bow before a bow

 

before a bow is enough

music for me. What beast

in what territory

 

of darkness would reach

into the throat

of an artist living through

 

profane beauty

& remove the yell’s

ricochet? God dammit,

 

what sort of medieval kiss

& thievery leaves

us pregnant with a sadness

 

that does not matter at all,

even a little, even with

the gambler’s audience?

 

We saw what we saw.

The rudiments of any tempest

are an empty room.

Darren C. Demaree is the author of eighteen poetry collections, most recently the luxury (Glass Lyre, January 2023). 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 living in Columbus, Ohio with his wife and children.