Don Kingfisher Campbell
Still Life
a poetic libretto
1 > Still
Life (02 25 2025)
2 > New
Definitions (02 27 2025)
3 > I
drive alone (02 28 2025)
4 > Key
to the Sky Steps (03 01 2025)
5 > Approaching
Earth (03 21 2025)
6 > Imagine
(03 26 2025)
7 > zombies
pushing shopping carts (03 26 2025)
8 > Famous
Girlfriends (04 09 2025)
9 > Me (04
21 2025)
10 > When
God Took a Shower (04 22 2025)
11 > Start
Over (04 25 2025)
12 > Nature
Food (04 26 2025)
13 > No
Need for People? (04 26 2025)
1 > Still Life
Flowers
growing on a bush
so
captivating my wife wanted
to cut off a
few to put in a vase
I saw them
and immediately
thought of
taking a photo which
ended up
looking like a painting
Captured
purity of simple imagery:
black chair,
white wall, glass pitcher
reflecting
afternoon sunlight but
The pink
petals and green leaves
are in this
mind's spotlight making
me think of
the history of all things
The
aforementioned and a human
being both
lovely in their temporary
bodies and
ultimately just detritus
Enjoyed as a
reminder that we
radiate
inside and outside until
we create
future objects of art
2 > New Definitions
The word sky
is toxic ashy brown heaviness in lungs
3 > I drive alone
I drive
alone on
blacktop
heat
I drive
alone as
tumbleweed
witness
I drive
alone through
white haze
I drive
alone toward
looming
mountains
I drive
alone amidst
sky
indifference
I drive
alone to life's
unknown side
4 > Key to the Sky Steps
A woman is
rejoicing
head
upturned with
arms full of
fallen apples
The wind
itself
shook the
tree
like a
skeleton
A nearby dog
watches
not as
Cerberus
but harkened
salivator
The mammals
dance
give thanks
to the sun
provider of
decay
Maker of new
seeds,
sprouts,
puppies,
babies, cadavers
5 > Approaching Earth
I am surrounded by ghosts
Tears drop from spirit wind
Down to carve dusty canyon
Home for future riverfront
Condos cashing in on cycle
Of this human millennium
But for now, beauty is found
Crawling around banks for
Watery morsels to munch
Like you, I want to be
An appreciative advocate
About nature maintaining
Animal space pathways
As beings on the surface
And aquafids propulse
Through someday soiled
Once non-sapien landscape
Raging eons until infusion
6 > Imagine
the sky reaching out to you
from clouds blown by wind
far enough to touch your skin
and the sun rising below to
fill your eyes with a yellow band
that turns into an orange haze
finally revealing cosmic ball
that sees nothing you do wrong
or right under its periodic warmth
7 > zombies pushing shopping carts
I walk down the warehouse aisle
trying to follow my wife's jeans
but she squeezes through spaces
between two pushers navigating
me into getting blocked by a
forward-facing emotionless person
staring ahead to the next sign
that makes them stop and shop
while I steer around to catch up
with my love smiling before
the rush of my clacking wheels
8 > Famous Girlfriends
For years I
kept
an empty box
of Carnation
Instant
Breakfast
strawberry
flavor
in my
cupboard
because
Penny
was the
smiling
face on the
front
Music Center
usher
Lynn liked
singing
while I lay
my head
on her lap
as she
stroked my
hair
later on she
sang
backup on a
hit by
Patrice
Rushen
"Forget
Me Nots"
Met Mary K
in
CSULA
astronomy
class then I
drove
to her house
to play
George
Harrison's
Blow Away on
her
stereo she
went on
to win a
national
volleyball
championship
Thelma was a
server
at
Montebello Del Taco
short bobbed
hair
and an Elton
John fan
I found a
bootleg
recording of
her
yelling
Brown! to
Bernie's
Your Song
eye color
query
Years later
she emailed
me that she
heard
I mentioned
her
in a poem
and
asked for a
copy
I sent the
chapbook
to her
office in which
she was
Pomona's
USD
Superintendent
But that's
not the end I
was subbing
at the Wilson
High
computer lab when
the
principal brought in
LAUSD Board Member
"Thelma!"
to the surprise
of my boss
mouth open
in amazed
incredulity
I have to
admit a few
annuals
after that I
Googled her
and learned
the EJ
worshiper was now
the
Assistant Secretary
of Education
in Obama's
first term
cabinet
and me I'm
retired with
a new piece
to share
9 > Me
I am a cell
phone
I need
recharging
Every single
night
I am full of
memories
Photos and
words
In my
capacious brain
I connect
with others
To share
information
And poetic
feelings
I have
fallen
So many
times
I am cracked
With my new
coat
I am
protected
From
accidental bumps
Still I like
to be
Held by you
I feel
important
I love to
sense
Your warm
touch
Your
coursing beat
I don’t want
to die
But if I do
please
Reincarnate
me
Maybe
someday
I’ll be a
laptop or
An
enlightened being
I don’t
believe
I’ve lived
this long
Just to become trash
10 > When God Took a Shower
He turned on
the running water
Accidentally
drowned a spider
Daddy long
legs tried to evade
The
continuing spray but
Succumbed to
its onslaught
Ended up
curled around
The screened
drain just a corpse
Like I will
be some day when
A force
takes me out of the living
Ending my
poetic chronicle of
Dodging
heartbreak moments
By
reincarnating as a husband
Again and
again trying to live
As long as I
can in this earth suit
Until
finally squashed by fate
My body
become empty shell
That held a
breathing soul
11 > Start Over
Sometimes I
feel
like a bored
dog
in a fenced
yard
waiting for
his master
Better than
being
a squashed
bug
on a
speeding windshield
ultimately
wiped off
Reproduction
the only way
to point
toward immortality
for possibly
hundreds, thousands
maybe even
millions of years
Until the
great collision
of expanding
Sun and Earth
followed by
the formation
of the
Milkdromeda Anyway
No one sees
a universe
populated by
black holes
dissipating
to nothingness
and the
extinguishing of light
12 > Nature Food
Clouds like
potatoes
river of
gray gravy
dolloped on
fluffiness
Trees like
beef sticks
tender
tendrils to tear
big bark
bits of
Roses like
sherbet
swirls of
strawberry
outside
lemon inside
Wife like
cookie dough
smell soft
freshness
linger in
nostrils
13 > No Need for People? *
Raucous
lines of Joshua Trees
Hold
positions as wild dancing
With
drifting cloud puffs in the sky
Underbrush
follows their lead
Jealous
mountain range watches
Desert has
to be the moving floor
The sun is a
glowing disco ball
They're not
missing you at all
'Cept for
someone who captures it
Can join the party if they please
*
Inspired by the above photo by Walter Feller
