Don Kingfisher Campbell
a poetic libretto
CONTENTS
THE
VIEW OUT (2003)
Published
by Four Feathers Press
(http://fourfeatherspress.blogspot.com)
THE VIEW OUT
The view out
The window
Outdoes any
Painting and
When the sun
Warms the leaves
I feel it well
On my skin
The warmed land
Makes me dream
My body isn't
Hurt every day
But if I die
Because of cancer
At least I lived
Under the light
ANOTHER LOOK AT THE NEWS
All trapped miners rescued from Chilean mine
But there's no saving our buried relationship
L.A., S.F. DAs face off for Attorney General
We've already had our tete-a-tete on why we broke up
Wilmington shooting sparks school lockdown
My departure meant I left behind the keys
Thousand Oaks couple wins $30 million Super Lotto plus
jackpot
We lost the prospect of staying together a long time ago
Orange County confirms year's first case of West Nile
I hope she doesn't wish that I become the second
Woman found slain in San Diego college restroom
I'm steering clear of any more arguments
Obama shows benefits of college tax credit
I guess we're both better off sans daily pain
Starbucks tells baristas to slow down
Many times I could have used some individual attention
Intruder arrested outside Paris Hilton's house
You won't see me on anyone's property uninvited
13 WAYS OF LOOKING AT
LITTLE CHOCOLATE DONUTS
(1)
It's a hot humid day
The market has put boxes of
Little chocolate donuts
In the refrigerated section
(2)
I cannot turn down
That chilled army of
Little chocolate donuts
At the checkout
I tell my daughter
Go run and grab a box
(3)
She runs up
Then back down
The freezer aisle now
Carrying a box of
Little chocolate donuts
(4)
She places the
Rectangular white box
On the black conveyer belt
Little chocolate donuts
Ride to the checker
(5)
I gaze at the box on the belt
There is the clear plastic window
Revealing the dark round little donuts
Packed together like a crowded bus
(6)
I remember eating
Little chocolate donuts
Unwrapping a six pack
Indulging in chocolate fantasy
Enjoying them more day old
(7)
I take the plastic bag
In my hand
Weighted by
The sacred box
(8)
I give the plastic bag
To Kyla for safekeeping
While I drive my gray car
With gray fiber seats
And black wheels
(9)
The road is a fudge river
The sidewalk is a dusty milk stream
The front door is beige cake
(10)
Once inside, the box of
Little chocolate donuts
Rests on the kitchen counter
Ready to be fingered open
By the salivating humans
(11)
Magically the little chocolate
Donuts are disappearing
As family members toss them
One by one into their mouths
(12)
The last little chocolate donut
Is gone
The white box
Is empty
(13)
Two days later
My waistline has bulged
I have been eating
Too many little chocolate donuts
Step Outside
open door
walk on
water reflects
pools around shoes
feel grass blades
between fingers
grasp tree texture
rough to stroking hand
sense air flow
over skin
see clouds
with moist eyes
sky towers
above buildings
I'm Weirded Out
His reddish hair is obviously colored
His shiny forehead too high
His eyes aren't level and so small
inside rectangular lenses
His aquiline nose, petite for a man
His thin lips overtly framed
by mustache and beard dyed too
His neck...a...little...fat
His black tee shirt, thrift store casual
He's got a bit of a belly
His faded blue jeans don't match
He wears white athletic socks
Hiking shoes complete the garishness
He sits slumped over in a classroom chair
He writes using a cracked pen
He walks away with a wry smile
He must have been composing a poem
SHE EVEN LOOKS
LIKE A POET
Wearing tan
Knit beret
Curly brown
Locks falling
Like man-o-
War tendrils
Edgy black
Framed glasses
"Fantasy, so much
Better than reality"
Easy teenage
Toothy smile
Turquoise bra straps
Over bronze skin
Pink tee
Scrawl declares
It's not me
It's you
"When I awake
I can't wait"
Framed by
Gray vest
Knee-low
Blue jeans
White ankle
Socks peek
Over neon
Graffiti tennies
"Till night comes
To dream again"
INSIDE OUT
Out of the Cube
We talk
She takes my hand as we walk
I squeeze hers when we need to turn
I wiggle my fingers when I want her
To let go and go ahead of me
Enter the supermarket
We walk
I put my hand on the small of her back
We talk through the door
Wrap my arm around her
She reciprocates so we are bodyclose
Then pheromones take over
We look into each other’s eyes
Purse our lips for a smootch
We turn and face to embrace
Then we shop and talk
Wrapped together we walk
And talk back to the car
I open the door for her
Inside we talk some more
Until we get home
To our apartment
Where I lie on the love seat
Reach both my hands out
Looking for a horizontal hug
Then we return to our laptops
Why I look forward to bedtime
I love to hug my five-foot-two teddy bear at night in bed
until she somehow turns into a sheet-wrapped mummy of a
Chinese goddess
Deeply after midnight I'll often hear happy sleeping tea
conversation
except when I have to nudge her when she starts to imitate a
lumberjack sawing logs
Sometime before morning we end up becoming Siamese leg twins
then I sun rise and she looks ten years younger with her
smiling closed eyes
and soft pouting lips that sweetly don't resist being kissed
unawake
deaths
to look forward to
in a particular order
humankind
strangers
famous stars
rockers
facebook friends
real friends
relatives
wives
mine
children
Just To Get Out of the Apartment Every Morning
I have to
open my eyes
roll out of bed
slip on my tire-tread chanclas
shuffle to the bathroom
pull out my penis from my Led Zeppelin boxers
try not to piss on the seat
wipe the rim
walk to the kitchen
reach above the refrigerator
select the cereal I want
take down the box available
swing the fridge door left-handed
enjoy the cold of the plastic milk jug handle
pour the nonfat carefully
search for a napkin to wipe the spillover
hunt for a spoon on the drying rack
my chinese wife does not differentiate between forks and
spoons so they are both turned downward
head for the second-bedroom turned office ever since my
step-daughter moved out to marry
flip my laptop on
check my emails for deals and life changes
surf for entertainment
unplug my charging phone
shower shave vitamin deodorize with cell nearby
go back to the bedroom
choose underwear to fit my mood
slide pants on one leg at a time then insert cellphone in
right front pocket
throw on a cool black rocker tee
return to the kitchen to grab a drink and snack
move to the front door and place my ID lanyard over my neck
doubleback peck my wife goodbye before I step again towards
the door to turn the knob
sometimes outside I remember I forgot and have to key reopen
and kiss
Thirteen Ways of Looking at Poppies
Poppies! Poppies! Poppies! Poppies!
Blown around by the breeze
Like citizens by politics
If Moses had hiked this hill
He would have said the clusters of
Orange flames were beautiful signs of God
Walk as a tee-shirted giant
In the land of the poppies
Swaying by the passing wind
Open petals take in
The sunny flow of air
Fed the feeling of being alive
Shadows pass over the poppies
Shoes temporarily knock flat the poppies
The poppies bounce back up lifted by the following
A field of orange and yellow and purple
Brings delightful color to the brown hills
The cloudless blue sky
Kneeling amongst the poppies
Get close to pure beauty
Fitting right in
Spotted desert brush
Enhanced by orange and yellow and purple clumps
Such harmony in the variety of colors
The sign says Poppy Festival
April 22nd-23rd but
It's already here
Bearded and unbearded men stroll
Surrounded by poppies
Smiles all around
Buds hang together
Like a group of poppies
Grow to love the company
Outside with the wind dancers
Sashaying to the music of the breezes
Twenty four hours every day
Put anything next to a poppy
And it's livened up
A bouquet of flowers and object
Let Out Ventricle Efforts
In a world ruled by oil
I feel like a protestor in the arms of the police
No car can stop me from
Neon nights with you
Sure people are starving in Africa
But if we each live to make each other smile
This planet will be perfectible
Arboretum: 24 ways of looking at bushes, plants, and trees
Purple fronds like barbed wires
or caterpillars
Trees on fire with no flames
Cactus, the inspiration for Disney Hall
The fern monster emerging from fern lake
Bird of paradise, pointed bill, pointed crown
Tree limbs like smoking log firework
Red and orange and yellow and pink and white and blue
flowers burst on bushes like mid-air firework explosions
The hair of the willow
Branches reach up like arms
Knotholes like breasts
Desert cactus tree crawling with snakes
Desert plant sprouts sea cucumbers
White bell flowers like popcorn
Cat tails, long quills
The fur coat of the palm tree
Forked tree
Bush leaves the color of an amphibian’s back
Arcing pink flowers like prawns or shrimp
Cat tail firework burst
Divining rod tree stretches across road
Tree shadows, humans who can’t walk away
Bamboo trees cluster, stick army
Cell phone tower, imitation tree
