Dameion Wagner

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Paper Route Mornings

The smell of ink tunneled
itself into the tips of
my fingers and burrowed
itself into my nose.

I sometimes didn't fold
the papers because of that.
When my dad helped me
I felt good and I didn't mind
the lasting dark of the ink
because he bore it too.

Dameion is a language arts teacher at a high school in Central Ohio. Two of his other poems appear in Columbus Creative Cooperative's first poetry anthology The Ides of March: An Anthology of Ohio Poets. His poems reflect his desire to whittle down the logs of language into sticks and twigs, something for kindling and warmth. He's hopeful that the joy he finds in writing and sharing poetry finds its way into his classroom every day.