How to Write Poetry by Jim Babwe

 

The Fake News (Revised) by Jim Babwe

 

Question Mystery by Don Kingfisher Campbell

 

a poetic libretto

Kingfisher

Question

Mystery

 

1 > Poetic Sol (1997)

2 > Fun-da-mental Quest-ions (11 23 2013)

3 > Ars Poetica (10 09 2015)

4 > Questioning the Masters (04 11 2016)

5 > Questions from The Broad (12 18 2016)

6 > MMT Love (08 11 2017)

7 > Olympic Questions (02 19 2022)

 

 

 

1 > Poetic Sol

 

sitting on steps

of the public library

 

the white stone steps

warmed by the sun

 

street traversed

by squealing car sounds

 

palm trees lined up

heads to the breeze

 

blue sky background

high above one blinding

 

eye shouting

action! 

2 > Fun-da-mental Quest-ions

when I breathe

is this how the wind

feels constantly exchanging

parts of spirit

 

when I sneeze

is this how a geyser

feels releasing jet

because it tickles

 

when I cough

is this how a blowhole

feels expelling

material caught inside

 

when I shiver

is this how an earthquake

feels for moments

spreading throughout the land

 

when I cry

is this how clouds

feel when they can’t

help but rain

 

when my heart flutters

is this how the earth

feels when we

test bombs

 

when I fart

is this how a fissure

feels letting out

pent-up gas

 

when I pee

is this how a waterfall

feels all

the time

 

when I shit

is this how an undersea vent

feels extruding mantle

onto sea floor

 

when I vomit

is this how a volcano

feels inside

erupting outward

 

when I swing my hand

is this how an asteroid

feels to hit

another orbiting body

 

when I spin

is this how a planet

feels rotating

every single day

 

when my mind blows

is this how a star

feels when it supernovas

in all directions

 

when I come

is this how God

felt in the big bang

… and afterward

3 > Ars Poetica

 

Like a painter

Capture the spectrum of surroundings

The red numbered calendar

The yellow banner with black letters

The green plastic footrest

The hanging blue panty

 

Like a sculptor

Feel the texture of objects

The round ebony headphones

The rainbow of tubular highlighters

The moon cone cobalt desk lamp

The smooth silver cellphone monolith

 

Like a musician

Use words to make music

She lies on the other side of the wall

Naked under percale sheets

In a dark room where the ceiling fan turns

Her voluptuous voice beckons me to come to bed

 

Like a dancer

Play with movement and space

I lean back in the swiveling chair

Crunch mandarin orange seeds in my mouth

Spit them into the bagged waste basket

Get up to waltz to the bedroom

 

As a lover

Put your feelings in

Until you can’t feel any more

I want to spend the rest of my life this way

Making love to description

Before, during, and after sleep

 

4 > Questioning the Masters

 

Shakyamuni, if I tip my fingertips to the ground will I achieve enlightenment?

Buddha, will there someday be a statue of me with only my feet remaining?

Ganesha, will my love of sweets make my stomach burst?

Guardian, am I a happy lion when it comes to protecting my tribe?

Winged Figure, can I support my cosmos with a hand?

Ribera, will my sense of touch help me learn the paragon of forms?

Saint Francis, must I pray for the concentration necessary to accept death?

Van Gogh, will foliage move me to see sky and hillside as relief?

Klee, is knowing another head better than seeking energy in geometry?

Munter, can I feel the essence of things in simple colors?

Warhol, can I manufacture art parallel to others who manufacture art?

Von Huene, can I say Karooooo to the daymare of a dress in the wind?

Hefferton, am I money I can decorate as I please?

Hurtados, can my body become a living work as well?

 

5 > Questions from The Broad

 

Did you forget to wash the dishes?

Wish a bouquet of shiny flowers was waiting for you upstairs?

Do you like to immerse yourself in comics?

How about other media?

Jackie O, Marilyn Monroe, Cowboy Elvis,

and more wanted men?

Would you find pleasure in saluting an artistic flag?

Lose yourself in blocks of primary colors?

Have you looked into the eyes of a single man?

Did his beard match the hair on his head?

Was his forward stare much like your own?

Have you ever dreamed of having three penises too?

Is the fire burning in your cabin intentional?

Why does a tear fall on your cheek?

Are you worthy of a crown as well?

When you glance in the mirror do you feel like a fake?

Remember when you could peer up at a dining table?

Ever vomited money, suckled the teats of society?

Does your jaw slacken at America in bright lights?

With the shadows of the oppressed including you?

Who doesn’t adore a nice bite in the neck?

How long have our heads been hanging upside down?

Why do we construct a god out of darkness,

Missing a hand, featuring only one good eye?

Is a dead fish on newspaper a true sign of our culture?

Do you crouch and ponder the meaning of what lies on the ground?

Would you create a poem for your tombstone?

Prefer it in running signage on the wall of a museum?

Where have you declared out loud your needs in two words or more?

Why does this wig have a hole in it?

Can a brain take in all the peering pupils, pursed lips, toothy grins?

Even once been lined up with friends under a gun?

Etched a message to aliens on beach sand?

Saluted helmeted leaders of history, because they were just actors?

Stand on the shore waiting for a ship to drop anchor?

Or simply think outside in your purple nailed open sandals?

Are you an exhibit walking past the side of a colossal building?

 

6 > MMT Love

 

in this

Magical Mystery Tour

of life

I’m your

Fool On The Hill

 

Flying

trying

to find a

Blue Jay Way

of loving

 

Your Mother Should Know

too

I Am The Walrus

when it comes to

Hello Goodbye

 

I’m wishing for

Strawberry Fields Forever

in our lives

a happy

Penny Lane

 

I declare

Baby You’re A Rich (Wo)Man

because

really

All You Need Is Love

 

7 > Olympic Questions

 

Ski jumper, you know you look like a flying

squirrel when you spring in the sky, don’t you

 

Luge (and Skeleton), how does it feel to be a bullet

rocketing down an open barrel (head first)

 

Alpine skiers, are you speeding down that hill like

someone who forgot to turn off their car alarm

 

Snowboard racers, do you enjoy being a gang

of four hopping over speed bumps made of snow

 

Cross country, why do I think of you as a human

Hot Wheel forced to row two sticks up snowy track

 

Speed skaters, you seem like a hip grandfather

clock when you swing your pendulum arm, no

 

Women’s hockey, two Chinese dragons guard

the net, is that a powerful mindset, or what

 

Skating pairs, do you love flinging

your partner in the air (I’ll wait)

 

Curling, who can scrape the smooth clean

kitchen floor of ice most efficiently

 

Slope style, do you think you live to twist and

twist and twist and twist again

 

Bobsled, isn’t this an amusement park ride

(sure looks like one)

 

Ski cross, you appear to start like a penguin

and turn into a shark with fins, right

 

Figure skaters, why is the Russian girl so

triple axel athletic over the others

 

Mass start, you begin together as a centipede,

yet seek to split apart for individual victory, yes

 

Life Lines by Don Kingfisher Campbell

a poetic libretto

1 > Cultural Appropriation (08 02 2024)

2 > Mental Health (08 02 2024)

3 > Gone Poem (08 03 2024)

4 > The Los Angeles River (08 11 2024)

5 > Collection (08 19 2024)

6 > Life Line (08 24 2024)

7 > It’s Funny When We Go to Costco (08 25 2024)

8 > Two Love (08 30 2024)

9 > Triumph and Tragedy (09 07 2024)

10 > Horror (09 24 2024)

1 > Cultural Appropriation

 

Oh oh, CaLoki, you suggested

making the November theme for

Four Feathers Press online edition

Dia De Los Muertos, isn't that...?

 

Not as bad as performing songs

from another culture like Paul

Simon did on Graceland, and,

now that I think about it, Me And

Julio Down By The Schoolyard.

Don't even mention Genesis!

 

Yikes, am I not allowed to order

my beloved bean and cheese

burrito anymore? And I just

bought dumplings at the 168

Market on Valley Boulevard

and nobody stopped me

except to say Shi Sheh.

 

You know why I got them,

my wife is from Dalian, then

adulted in Sanya. Is getting

married the ultimate C.A.?

 

Wait a minute, I'm writing

this poem in English. Talk

about colloquial acquisition....

 

 

2 > Mental Health

 

My fellow poet and friend

for fifteen years Marvinlouis

has worried about his mind

 

You see he has characters

in his head, the inner child,

the ego, and the Muse

with a capital M

 

Muse tells him words

that are actually poetry

which Dorsey takes down

with great concentration

 

Lines like burned

his fingers on purpose

so he wouldn’t feel

the pain

 

Even if he’s possessed,

tossing away society’s

priorities, he has a large

one of his own, his Muse

 

 

3 > Gone Poem

 

North Hollywood

Plastic Toys

Blurry Vision

Insurance Glasses

Half Brothers

School Chums

Stereo Components

Girl Friends

Music Center

Monterey Park

Record Albums

One Father

Used Cars

El Sereno

One Cousin

Audio Cassettes

Waist Line

Lost Teeth

Five Wives

Compact Discs

Land Lords

Class Rooms

One Mother

Washing Machine

Old Refrigerator

Passing Poets

Dozen Presidents

 

But Poetry

You Have

Never Left

Me, Your

Spirit Is

Always Here

 

 

4 > The Los Angeles River

 

Our family being driven

By my father on the 5 fwy

To Burbank in the Buick

Skylark to his uncle’s house

To watch Sunday football

Drink white grape juice

Poured into Styrofoam cups

By my great aunt Edith

Who was hard of hearing

My sister and I would then

Go into the hallway where

A bottom drawer was filled

With coloring books, crayons,

Brown and green Lincoln logs

While the men in the house

Would sit around the dining table

With an ornate tablecloth

That fit the particular season

And they would play cards

To 500 points the winner

(When I was 11 I got to join them)

We were given a dollar to walk

Down the block to a small

Corner market in which we

Bought comic books and candy

But the thing I remember most

That stayed with the artist in me

Was looking for Leo Limon’s cat

Faces on the storm drain covers

On the way there and back

 

 5 > Collection

 

My baby's got

her collections of

toy cars

dolls

make-up

clothes

 

I've got my

collections of

books

CDs

poetry

clothes

 

Some day they

will be utterly

useless

unneeded

unwanted

unliving

 

6 > Life Line

Driving home

on the 101 freeway

from the Hollywood

Hills where my late great

aunt used to live

 

And the street

level abode of

the woman who has

just agreed to make me

a Poetry Editor of Zo

 

We pass to the left

my ninth story birthplace

(and my mother's too)

the Queen of Angels

Hospital now Dream Center

 

Almost immediately to

the right the hospital whose

name always changes where

my father died of cancer

at 58 in a semi-private room

 

Closer to downtown

The Music Center

location of my first job

as an usher and my

soon to be first wife

 

Only a short exit away

the Hall of Justice once

my dad's work in which

he incarcerated me for

an hour and a half

 

Changing into the 10

I delightfully see

General Hospital where

my daughter was born

after 39 hours labor

 

And the City Terrace

off ramp I would take

to allow my about to

become first ex to visit

the house of her childhood

 

The coming north

view features a sweep

of buildings that are

my bachelor's degree

alma mater Cal State L.A.

 

Finally Fremont Avenue

whose looping departure

points us to my sixth

marital cohabitation spot

the rear of a duplex

7 > It's Funny When We Go to Costco

 

“When you’re in love with a beautiful woman…” – Even Stevens

 

We traverse the parking lot

holding hands as she attracts

brief glances from gentlemen

who enjoy curves in clothing

much like wolves near lambs

 

Entering the raised gate

I push the shopping cart

let her walk in front of me

so I can watch her hips swing

like a pendulum in jeans

 

If she gets too far ahead

I notice male members

accidentally steer their carts

into stock distracted by biology

unhappy wives behind them

 

Yes I can't leave her alone

in the meat (meet) section

because lonely gents

smile at her and want to

discuss breasts and loins

 

I'm just as guilty except

I sneak my peeks even more

sneakily until we drive home

I look forward to seeing her

try on purchases like a kid

 

on Christmas who just wishes

to unwrap his promised present

for animal action in the afternoon

like a genetically ruled human

 

8 > Two Love

 

from opposite sides of the dining table

single hands finger meander like cats

looking to nail nuzzle each other

 

one slips on top of one upturned

palm lying flat like a survival raft

as fingertips slide and meet wrists

 

there they go back and forth to create

soft friction sensed by skin, faster

and faster to generate welcome heat

 

then thumbs stroke sides, eight digits

latch in the middle like a train coupling

clench cut nail edged fists into palms

 

shimmy and release so whole hand can

turn perpendicular and embrace, lock

on to push up and down a squeezy kiss

 

9 > Triumph and Tragedy

 

Wheeled out the portable

Air conditioner that looks

Like an all-white R2-D2

 

Sat it next to me in my red

UCLA-lifted swivel chair to

Provide a 78-degree breeze

 

I pointed the white plastic

Caterpillar-like exhaust tube

To the parted front door space

 

Below the bottom of the black

Iron security screen somehow an

Orange butterfly stilled by blast

 

 

10 > Horror (a found poem*)

 

1 (Jupiter eats Earth)

 

imagine a grape

next to a basketball

like a drop of food

 

coloring into ocean

glowing white hot

liquid metallic hydrogen

 

2 (Visit HD189733b)

 

blue earth-like planet

with soft oceanic swirls

a Van Gogh marble

 

constant winds whip

rainstorms of molten

glass shards sideways

 

fiery cosmic tornado

chunks shred you apart

with near infinite cuts

 

3 (the great nothing)

 

everything will dissolve

voids are growing and will

consume all things forever

 

*Inspired by https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVs7MwizT5