Don Kingfisher
Campbell
Sunset Chaser
a poetic libretto
1 > Go
Fund Me (01 11 2025)
2 > The
Los Angeles Fire Museum (01 18 2025)
3 > Meow
(01 21 2025)
4 > Gaze in
the Mirror (01 23 2025)
5 > Synchronized
Shoes (01 27 2025)
6 > America
vs China (01 29 2025)
7 > Break
Time (02 01 2025)
8 > Natural
Metaphor (02 03 2025)
9 > To
Eternity (02 05 2025)
10 > Sunset
Chaser (02 19 2025)
11 > Not Sunday (02 22 2025)
1 > Go Fund Me
(during the
aftermathy)
orange glow
over horizon
hot spots
line roads
helicopter
vision
like they
were bombed
incinerated
car shells
naked
chimneys
surrounded
by rubble
concrete
steps
lead to
sooty air
harsh
questions
leveled at
mayor
2 > The Los Angeles Fire Museum
Rows of ash
piles
used to be
homes
Soot in the
air, better
put on your
mask now
Make way for
the trucks
to haul away
debris
Police and
the National
Guard won't
let us near
This
wasteland has become
a monument
to unpreparedness
3 > Meow
I'm like a
cat
except I
have a tail
in the front
I like to
whack it like
a mole
against your
hind to wake
you
Hoping
you'll want
to stroke
gently
the stiff
salamander
Then I can
turn
over you to
enter
your silky
pouch
And do the
animal
back and
forth
horizontal
shuffle
Until my
amphibian
spits out
pleasure
inside your
lining
Your paws
grab
my ass for a
job
well
performed
Guess we’re
both
animals that
enjoy
being
recreated
4 > Gaze in the Mirror
Where do I
begin?
I've got
grey hair
dyed to
redness
A large
forehead
that's a
little bumpy
and likes to
crease
if I am
surprised
Right eye is
a tad
higher than
the left
and my nose
has
filled out a
bit
over the
years
My white
mustache
and beard
have been
colored by
brown
lipstick
brushed in
much less
toxic
than dye I
think
The weak
neck
the turkey
imitator
is hidden by
over-
growth of
facial hairs
protruding
to disguise
this small
chin
My neck is
starting
to reveal
the paths
of major
arteries
as well as
emerging
tiny skin
tags
The torso
has always
been long
enough
to require
tall size
but the
belly seems
to now be
beyond
pecs
individual girths
You can call
it
an increase
in waist
when it's
really
pleasure personified
Which brings
me
to my
private parts
penis
couches shorter
and one ball
appears
larger than
the other
Good thing
my hands
can still
reach low
to scratch
or stroke
depending on
the depth
of my
aroused feelings
Legs doing
well as
the most
unaffected
by decades
of use
they get the
most work
varicose
veins in left
have
diminished
Oh, and
don't forget
my hardest
workers
my feet show
some
wear through
years
tromped to
destinations
Upon close
inspection
the left
toes are
kind of
paired off
unlike
perfect right
So, what's
left,
after I
expire
a lot of
future
dust to
return
for
recycling
Where shall
it go?
Maybe I
should
designate
now to
choose land
or sea
to sprinkle
my burnt
ashes around
If I am
still in one
piece, bury
me deep
in the quiet
ground
without a
casket
to make my
devolution
continue on
unabated
by lost
mindset
To become a
flower
or bush or
tree
or mountain
or desert
better yet
food
for an itsy
creature
that'll get
me going
again in the
chain
As for my
spirit
remember it
with
this poem
which
merely
wishes
to be
correct
and catchy
enough
as
entertainment
of a few minutes
5 > Synchronized Shoes
We file out
the front door
march down
the driveway
reach to
hold each other's hand
Oooh,
they're too cold
She offers
her jacket sleeve
No, on
second thought
let's link
pinkies
Ha ha ha
We laugh
like school children
skip across
the street to the car
and zoom off to her therapy client
6 > America vs China
I taught her
how to play
the card
game
with the
culturally
appropriated
title
UNO
Now she is
an UNO demon
sharply
turning
the
conventional
strategy on
its head
UNO!
My wife
saves
the best
cards
for last and
I
have learned
from her now
UNO!
We go five
rounds
by choice so
the battle
doesn't
go on
forever
that way we
stay
UNO!
We laugh
when
one beats
the other
smile and
hold
hands across
the table
to assure we
are still
UNO
7 > Break Time
I close the
laptop
walk to the
back room
my wife's
office
plop onto
the swivel chair
next to her
and lean
backward
feel the
heat of the sun
from the
window
she strokes
my hair
and I become
good good good
glad that
the fire
inside my
heart
still
lights
8 > Natural Metaphor
The top of
my head
is a snowy
hill
My eyes are
pools
of muddy
water
My nose is a
smooth
slope of dry
land
My mouth is
a dark
moist cavern
My beard is
bristling
brown grass
in wind
My torso is
a field
without much
vegetation
My arms are
soft
branches
swaying
My penis is
a stump
of a tall
tree
My legs are
two
paths to
destination
My feet are
mounds
to stand
upon
Gaze out to
the other
earths
walking around
9 > To Eternity
My feet love
your feet
Because your
feet caress mine
Warming me
when we are in bed
Like two
gods
My legs love
your legs
Because your
legs bend for mine
Spooning me
when we are in bed
Like two
gods
My mud puppy
loves your kitty
Because your
kitty lets me in
Whether we
are in bed or not
Like two
gods
My arms love
your arms
Because we
take turns hugging
Each other
by turning in bed
Like two
gods
My fingers
love your fingers
Because we
hold and intertwine them
Wherever we
are, not just in bed
Like two
gods
My eyes love
your eyes
Because we
express the love
We are
thinking of anywhere
We are
coupled like two gods
My mind
loves your mind
Because your
thoughts challenge me
To be the
best for you and us
Two gods
growing old together
10 > Sunset Chaser
I get in my
car
and drive to
the CVS
parking lot
to see
if the sky
will
develop from
just
bands of
thin white
lenticular
clouds
into pure
orange
belts of
reflected
sunshine
where
heavenly
palette
then turns
to pink
like a city
on fire
only this
time
it’s merely
a canvas
for
rotation’s movement
finally
going purple
until nimbus
return
to darkness
outside
another
sleeping
artwork
waiting for
winds to
shape
welkin again
as sunrise
catchable
if I wake up
early enough
to
point
cellphone
at temporal
beauty
while cars
pass
away
speeding
to shelter
from life’s
wave to
oncoming
death and
end
of light
show
given freely
twice
daily by eye
existence
11 > Not Sunday
Weeks after witnessing
my son
Share afternoon
smiles with
His radiant reflecting
bride
Surrounded by
new relatives
We are
flamingos in a snow globe
Craning necks
around each other
At the
breakfast table as morning
Shines
through the slatted window
Meanwhile
three thousand miles
Away my
granddaughter bites
Into a sun-like
egg pancake
While a boxer
watches patiently
Later in bed
I see the midnight
Moon thanking
stars for my current
Peaceful life
my beautiful wife
Mildly Saturday
snoring next to me
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