I Will Never Live in a World without Cars by Don Kingfisher Campbell

 

1 > UNO Party! (03 04 2023)

2 > To Thank You (03 06 2023)

3 > After the rain (03 06 2023)

4 > “The Joshua Parade” (03 19 2023)

5 > Alistair’s Stare (03 19 2023)

6 > “Serious Cloud Bank” (03 19 2023)

7 > Dynamic Dawn (03 30 2023)

8 > Chile` (04 21 2023)

9 > Carrie the Cockroach (04 27 2023)

10 > Driveway Garden (04 27 2023)

11 > Sonnet for the Ekphrastic (05 06 2023)

12 > What better way to eat on Mother’s Day… (05 14 2023)

13 > Living in a world time… (05 19 2023)

14 > W. I. F. E. (06 13 2023)

15 > I will never live in a world without cars (06 13 2023)

1 > UNO Party!

 

The muffins in the clear plastic

case on the dining table look

like butter and chocolate flowers

 

The cards my wife deals out

are red, yellow, green, and blue

like rectangular flowers

 

I gaze up at three birthday balloons

still tethered to the curio stand

naturally bunched like flowers

 

I turn to the open blind window

notice buds that will become lemons

sway because they are flowers

 

And my spouse is my favorite

flower to water, thinking this as

she sits and wins, munches and wins

 

I’m distracted, inspired to poetry,

so I lose the round like a wilted flower,

but gain a freshly budded poem

 

2 > To Thank You

I pull back the gauzy curtains

Step onto the white balcony

Hold on to a wooden post

Gaze upon the waves waving in

See the glorious sun setting

A few scattered clouds float like birds

Seagulls glide in the blue sky wind

And in the glowing distance

Oil tankers black silhouettes

Spoil the majestic view

Creating holes in the fabric

 

3 > After the rain

 

a partially soaked dry

leaf on the wet welcome mat

wants to come inside

4 > “The Joshua Parade”

Inspired by Alexis Rhone Fancher’s photo

 

Could be an extended family

of four adults, three kids lagging,

marching off to visit relatives.

Yet they do not traipse at all,

except for the wind in their spires.

They are surrounded by like trees,

rooted in place, groups, individuals,

just like humans, save for faces

and fingers and legs to walk.

So they stay, living their positions

under the shiny blue desert sky,

attached to the soil of a vast planet,

dreaming of humanity, some day

hope to saunter into complicated lives.

5 > Alistair’s Stare

 

One-year-old takes an inadvertent selfie

looking down into the cell phone seeing

what is up and around in a young world.

Baby blue pacifier complements his eyes,

secure the brick chimney is not a human,

for there is a hand holding a chair attached

to a familiar grandfather face with gray hair

above, with quizzical concerned expression.

All dominated by the white beamed ceiling

which is the fake sky in this room that hangs

a circular light unswitched and out of reach.

If only he could flip over, stand on the smooth

painted wood as a reverse god overseeing,

everything would still be beyond him for now.

 

6 > “Serious Cloud Bank”

 Inspired by Alexis Rhone Fancher’s photo

 

A fluffy white swath has grown

like a moist wall towering over all

humans can muster to build below:

tiny bridges, buildings, freeways.

Cars, mere toys carrying itsy bitsy

creations navigating a designed world.

The massive cloud covers everything,

temporarily blinds drivers to use wipers,

as the behemoth passes through, crying,

leaving tears everywhere, on every ounce

of concrete and rubber and glass, sinking

in to surrounding soil, ready to reincarnate

as small lives turning green, being eaten,

infesting, investing in becoming again.

7 > Dynamic Dawn

 

Up in pastel blue

sky clouds swarm and

turn around each other,

cause frayed rolling edges.

 

Unseen sun below is

a dragon breathing orange

into warring nimbus strands.

On the surface, palm

 

trees and power poles

reach high but don't

communicate with cool air.

It's the opposite, wind

 

invisibly swirls through wires

and fronds. At street

level, silent road cracks

and ages under daily

 

heating and movement down

into darkness. Eyes close,

wait for next morning's

display. What shall we

 

sight tomorrow? Traipse on

to gaze horizon where

creatures conjure models that

shadow imitate massive nature.

8 > Chile`

 

We bought

extremely delicious

High Flavor

Candy Hearts

red grapes

from Chile`

at Costco

 

I listen

to a

hard rocking

instrumental band

called Octopus

from Chile`

on YouTube

 

Look on

my cellphone

find it’s

near Argentina

Too bad

I’ll never

go there

 

I guess

I don’t

have to

I can

experience Chile`

from here

Thanks trade

9 > Carrie the Cockroach

 

I was born inside a wall

Surrounded by brothers and sisters

We eat crumbs and drink puddles

 

Then a terrible rumbling comes

The walls break open

Smoke enters every crevice

 

We choke to breathe the ash

We wander searching

We run out of crumbs

 

Only chunks of flesh

There are no more puddles

Except dried blood

 

A week goes by

So thirsty

A month food gone

 

Now we

The survivors

Are wreckage too

  

10 > Driveway Garden

 

trumpets of white calla lilies

row of spires of green onion stalks

clusters of purple suns, pink suns

succulent heads with long stubbly necks

yellow "tree" flower rises off the same stem

weed push-thru concrete crack circle

birds of paradise crane spiky orange "hair"

glasses-wearing poet observes outside barred house

 

11 > Sonnet for the Ekphrastic

 

When the penis fit the hole

We decided to put on rings

Live in a rectangular box together

Hold hands until we become spirits

Watch the sun rise and set every day

Wait for the urge to mate to return

It always does in at least one of us

So we couple and uncouple an hour

Go back to the need of sundry things

Wash up, brush up, cook up, eat up

See the golden glow on our faces

Laugh over emerging lines and spots

Words unspoken say more about two

Than anything this poet can assemble

 

12 > What better thing to

eat on Mother's Day

than organic eggs

 

for buttered French toast

with syrup all made

from underpaid labor

 

and nuts and grapes

and raisins and oranges

arduously picked from trees

 

and mango juice bought

from an outlet store

run by a woman

 

my wife rouses from bed

to find a man who loves her

cooked breakfast because of she

 

13 > Living in a world time

That occasionally rhymes

 

Where you learn easily

To love a familial entity

Much bigger than you

Who picks you up and

Holds you tenderly

 

You become larger

Until the day comes

When you step and wait

To live on a planet

Where you try to equate

 

Ultimately the hour rounds

Where around you watch

The frail exist bedbound

As seconds tick

Breaths faint sound

 

Then release from hell

Into a non-existent spell

A plane where life develops

Mouth, ears, eyes in shell

That turns and rots well

 

Feeds the ground gain

Where new creatures

Work along the chain

To reach the moment of

Inhale again and again

 

Where intake of water, milk

Apples, oranges, bananas

Rice, noodles, buns, fun

Hugs, kisses, copulation

Nurture self-replication

 

All made possible where fraught

The gift of movement

Language and thought

Examination of being sought

Implements innate desires

14 > W. I. F. E.

 

Pretty lady in Wendy's munches French fries one by one and looks out the plate glass windows with smoky big sunglasses perched above her forehead

Frame arms tucked into the waterfall of her long straight smooth silky black hair raised a little by a small tortoise shell colored spider clip

She's wearing a slim black stretchy fabric unzipped black jacket (with Hurley printed in white down the left sleeve) to reveal a line of cleavage dividing the smiling edge of her black low-cut tee shirt

A stylish stripe stitched Nautica embossed between two lines black cellphone purse is slung over one shoulder to lay on her lap

Where tight black jeans conform to her legs and end with new shiny black vinyl low-rise boots whose rubber heels rest on the restaurant high stool tiny brass bar footrest

15 > I will never live in a world without cars

 

My wife didn't feel like cooking tonight because she hurt her pinky playing basketball with me at the park in the morning

So we stopped shooting and I drove her to the nearby Ross to shop for cool clothes since it was Senior Tuesday

While we were waiting in line I saw an old girlfriend in the next aisle looking at merchandise

I immediately turned and said nothing

Here we are now at the Wendy's where my ex-wife liked to dispense Diet Dr. Pepper from the self-serve machine

I drink the same formula and look out the windows at autos passing briskly to get home

Maybe we should go too

Nahuatl by Jim Babwe

 

The Crazy Phrases Contest on The Last Friday Night Train by Jim Babwe

 

This Poetic Libretto may also be viewed on YouTube as a video.

Now revised, here is the new link: https://youtu.be/isbIr5Y0Ox0

Simile City by Don Kingfisher Campbell

 

 

SIMILE

CITY

 

A

Poetic

Libretto

 

by

Don

Kingfisher

Campbell

 

  

Simile City

 

A family of red roses

Cluster together

Like a solar array

 

A pair of parrots

Screech overhead

Like pod racers

 

Two honking cars

Pass in parking lot

Like dogs barking

 

Air conditioners

Hang out windows

Like bored citizens

 

A couple walk their

Pooch on the sidewalk

Vanish like settlers

 

 

The Adventures of Bao Bao and Dog Dog

 

She thinks we walk with a purpose

To release internal fluids and solids

This may be true, but there is

A higher inspiration: to inspire

Through the nostrils the scents

Of the sidewalk, the lawns, the world

That is the real pleasure, to appreciate

What humans cannot or will not

Focus on, the subtle joys of sniffing

Traces of urine and poopilage

Even flowers and weeds have essence

Yet, just standing in the wind

Might be the ultimate ecstasy

To feel cool air itself caress hair

Then return home to lap up water

Munch on kibble or wet food

Start the healthy cycle again

But first a thorough licking clean

Followed by a nice nap on my bed

 

 

Big Family on a Corner

 

Got a big screen TV today, stowed

the big cardboard box in the back of

their curb parked big black pickup truck

 

Couldn't fit it in the wide driveway,

there's already four big SUV's side-by-side

crowding the slightly cracked concrete

 

The big sideyard tent top is still up, nearby

are the black plastic tubes of mortars

that were fired during the big Fourth holiday

 

Four color coded trash bins have been

set out at the curb, overfilled with stuff

like any other multigenerational group

 

We keep walking the dog by because

they've got seven cameras perched

on the corners of their old house

 

Sometimes we see a white cat sitting

on a windowsill, but no more, two big

new air conditioners occupy sills now

 

Yesterday they had their little bulldog off

a leash, he barked and sniffed the behind

of blind Sukie until he was slapped away

 

They gently apologized and went on with

their familial activities; on a later walk tonight,

we just heard the television as we passed

 

Ars Dogma

 

Stop and smell the grass

That's my motto

 

Wait and feel the air

The ways to be alive

 

Let the afternoon pass

What's the rush to go home

 

When you've got driveway

And sidewalk to saunter

 

You can be a dog even

If you only have two legs

 

So traipse back indoors

Because you want to

 

Go lap up some water

Nibble some kibble

 

Clean up tongue style

Finish with a good nap

 

Then rinse repeat retrace

Those steps you made before

 

What a life for a canine

Or any size being living 

 

 

Scene from Edgewood Drive

 

An airplane crosses the sky

 

Irregular skyline on the horizon

 

Flowers near cars parked in driveways

 

A man sweeps the sidewalk

 

A woman walks her dog

 

An SUV passes briskly by

 

The hot dog stand is not open

 

Aftermath of a kid’s birthday party

 

Trash bins lined up at the curb

 

Sun bakes edifice of new storage building

 

No train on the tracks below

 

Cross the street if you see someone

 

Everyone wrapped up in their own lives

 

A mourning dove hoo hoos out of sight

  

 

Sunset

 

because I saw a bright glow coming

from between the window blinds

I stepped out of my rented house

 

looked to the sky and envisioned

brilliant yellow ragged rams horns

of lit up cloud formations arresting

 

like two raised arms over the Earth

below they widened until they were

spread out like crab claws beneath

 

the sky crustacean an orange ocean

skirting the tree lined silhouette

horizon which led my eyes westward

 

to unseen millions of unknown souls

who no doubt if they were outside

took mental notes or cell phone

 

photos to share with the ephemeral

moving feed of creation itself

switched on not just for hue man 

 

 

Sky whispers

 

Wake up my eyes, clouds in the air,

Like trees reach out try to touch moisture

Clouds in the welkin dance with love

Like white dragons or flapping doves

Me and the trees can only watch and sway

Want generated winds to carry us away

Clouds stretch and become so wispy

Spirits in the baby blue get so hot and dry

Trees are a feeling audience and so am I

Some clouds finger God because they are

So fleeting, so temporary, so repetitive there

One day they are this, they know they can fly

The next they are not, I too wish and cry

Eat me ground, process me, send me high