Marc Darnell

Remnants Of Reason


The stars outweigh the sun. The moon can't make
a wolf or loon. The continents aren't sinking.
Conception is and always will be mac-
ulate. The guards at the Risen's cave were drinking--

the corpse was moved. And dark matter matters
more than what we see. We have no way
of knowing what comes after life. It's better
to feed the starved and drop the urge to pray.

Cancer is mutation, there's no pill--
it's nothing like disease-- we wish it were.
Love is mental. Wait a score until
ice is gone. We'll never reach a star.

We are skin and slop. The northern lights
are ions ripped, the cosmos has no night.

Marc Darnell lives in Omaha and works as a lead custodial foreman for the county. He writes, “‘I’ve cleaned for 35 years with an MFA. Strange combination but it pays the bills.”