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KNOWING
I smile when I want to close my eyes
I hang around while I wish to be alone
I look at buildings instead of wildflowers
This is my daily dolor
I desire to get away from
I have to enter my car
And drive drive drive
So I can find myself
Walking a trail
Feel the crunch of rocks under my shoes
Hear the crunch of rocks under my shoes
See the wind make flowers dance
I walk a way awhile
Then I must return
Ask myself why
I leave the earth I love
For another week of structure and structures
I madly learn to
Pay the bills
Come up with rent
I buy music and write poetry
That I may someday really remember
To forget the material
Rejoin the planet
But I'm not ready
For such advancement yet
The perfect bliss
Of being
A shrub
In the desert
POEM
it started with a word, which became a line,
turned into a stanza, and started to look
beyond itself, found fingers on keyboard, eyes
on monitor, it didn't stop there, it continued,
printing ink on paper, then propped up
for a second exam, by a computer speaker,
set on a small desk accompanied with chair,
noticed file cabinets surrounding
on one wall of what otherwise was
a dining room, in an apartment
ensconced with bedrooms, bathrooms,
windows to gaze out of, doors to
walk through, experienced sunlight on its skin,
being taken to a car, placed inside
on the passenger seat, couldn't see much,
but sensed the shifting of gears and light,
shadows of passing trees (bretheren),
the occasional chirp of bird or hum of plane,
the sudden ceasing of motion and the return
of fingers, the entering of a cafe, its voice
finally heard, amidst the coffee machine,
the small talk, the street outside,
the other buildings, cities, states,
nations, continents, planets,
stars, galaxies, universes, gods,
and wished for immortality;
unfortunately, there was a need
for further drafts, workshops, outings
JUST WORDS
These are just words
Don't be afraid
These are just words
It's not like they want to
Hit you in the face
These are just words
And nothing to fear
Except how you will react
If you read something you don't like
Then you might judge me but
These are just words
They are incapable of
Spreading your legs
And going thrust thrust thrust
These are just words
Ideas formed through
Thousands of years
These are just words
Which in this mind Know the hypocrisy
Of leaders and followers
Of the fervent and the disinterested
Because I have experienced all these
And expressed my reactions
In the way that I was taught
These are just words
Can they change the world
Are they translatable
To every culture
Despite our similarities
We like to feel differences
Make us better than others
And that is the danger
Of reading what sentences give
These are just words
Of an ordinary man
They cannot hold you prisoner
Any longer than you let them
Won't gouge your eyes out
Nothing under your fingernails
Except maybe a papercut
No smoke rings will blow by you
These are just words
And they want to find how
To bring about good feelings
Even from bad situations
We all have them
These are just words
Not as powerful as humans
Who use them to pass judgment
Each day on what they encounter
But they might just learn someday
To always use poetry to unite people
To understand our commonality
Since art seeks to improve life
These are just words
And you may utilize them
As you deem necessary
Possibly to assist a backrub
Or to ask to get your car fixed
Yes you might love to request
The opportunity to devour food
For your belly or your soul
To have sex or just conversation
Incredibly imagine a flower is a day
Yet what will this cost you
These are just words
Which like wind to your brain
Allow you to breathe out
Thoughts, dreams, desires
These are just words
And for that reason they have
Been created to serve until
Our mortal coils burn out
These are just words
Read some, write some,
Share some, perform some
These are just words
If they are handled with care
These are just words
WORDS CHOSEN RANDOMLY
FROM THE DICTIONARY
Occupation: Doing a lot of substitute teaching these days. I was enjoying
being a Guest Poet in classrooms. Been a tough year financially for
schools, I'm told.
Libertarian: A political party I know little about. Liberal? Joseph
Liberman is not a member, right?
Synthesizer: Oh yeah. Yes. Emerson, Lake & Palmer. The Moody Blues. The
Beatles. Paul McCartney. John Lennon. All of them used it. Saw the DVD
about Robert Moog. Saw Stan Ridgway perform recently at McCabe's; his wife
Pietra Wexton uses one. Don't think I've ever actually been nearer to one
though. Might have walked by one in a music shop without thinking about it.
I want a marimba.
Chitterlings: It says, small intestines of pigs. I've tried menudo.
Didn't like it.
Pub: Used to have one at my college. Really. Those were the days.
Heraldic: I've got a family crest. It's a wild boar. Our motto is "Never
forget".
Coelenterate: A cnidarian. I had to look that one up. It's in this
dictionary, of course. A jellyfish! Hey, I wrote a poem about jellyfish
after seeing them for the first time in person at the Aquarium of the
Pacific in Long Beach. One of those places to go to on a date or with kids.
Wart: Never had one. Unless, that's what this little bump on the side of
my nose is. But it's soft. I think it's just a growth. Another poet I
know, Cathy Sandstrom, has one too. Can they be removed? Well, my glasses
hide it pretty well, so, I usually forget about it.
Bent: I'm sorry, that's personal. Alright, banana. No, Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy.
Meter: Gas meter. Electric meter. Parking meter. Lovely Rita Meter Maid.
Listening to that song as a preteen. I'm almost two meters tall now.
Surrender: Yep, I was right. This should be the last one. Love that tune
by Jon Anderson. Wish it would come out on CD. And Cheap Trick's got one
too. It's OK. I like this word. It makes me think of love...and sex...and
giving up.
IN THE SEA OF DOLPHINS,
I AM A MANTA RAY
Dive into the sun to find opened eyes
An empty sky, full of ghosts
Smile because trees become bare
Carcasses on snowy streets
A monkey dreamt the cosmos, found a house
To sit in, gaze at an apple, stare at a fist
Pray in the wilderness, he said
We might as well be ants
But the scientific mind was high on civilization
They celebrated our rocks and roles
Envisioned the perfect you
Driving a lonely night freeway
Galloping to repopulate the stars
And play the game of movement through air
Read a poem on the shore, the sad cliffs watching
Us, eventually eaten by the shark mountain
As the lords in welkin have already seen
Ancient temple women in flames
Our babies litter the world like clouds
Say, hi god, teach me something
Don Kingfisher Campbell is the founder of POETRYpeople youth writing workshops, publisher of the San Gabriel Valley Poetry Quarterly, leader of the Emerging Urban Poets writing and Wednesday Afternoon Critique workshops, and host of Monday Night Poetry in Pasadena, California.
He is the recipient of the National Writers Association's Los Angeles Chapter Author Of The Month Certificate, the Artists For A Better World Spirit Of Youth Award, an Honorable Mention in the Pathetic.org 9/11 poetry contest, the Pennsylvania State Poetry Society's Charles Ferguson Prize, and an Arroyo Arts Collective's Poetry In The Windows Prize.
His poetry has been recently published in, among others, Prism Quarterly, Open Windows, Dirt, Three Chord Poems, So Luminous The Wildflowers; and online atTattoo Highway, Poetry Midwest, River Walk, New Verse News, Poets Against The War, Hiss Quarterly, Edifice Wrecked.
His first book of poetry "Enter", reviewed as "pithy, trenchant, raw with life", was published by iUniverse Press and is available on Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble.com, etc. You can find him interviewed on Litrave.com and Poetix.net.(September 2004, October 2006, April 2009).
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