Poemcrazy
Don Kingfisher Campbell is founder of POETRYpeople youth writing
workshops, publisher of the San Gabriel Valley Poetry Quarterly, leader of
the Emerging Urban Poets writing and Wednesday Afternoon Critique workshops,
and host of Monday Night Poetry in Pasadena. His first book of poetry, "Enter," was published by iUniverse Press.
By Don Kingfisher Campbell
Once my name was
boy with plastic
bucket in hand
watching mother
take in the sun
in her swimsuit
Before that my name was
boy who opens drawers
in order to climb to
the top of the dresser
and grab my toy car
Years later
my name was
boy on bicycle
speeding up
sidewalk toward
makeshift wood ramp
Now my name is
one of many in boat
rowing into sunset
watching golden water
Secretly my name
wishes it was
sitting in backseat
of limo with cigar
in mouth as she
loses black dress
My name long ago was
primordial volcano
spewing bright yellow
liquid fire down
dark rocky slopes
In dreams my name is
elegantly brushed
aluminum fork on
white linen napkin,
banana and cell
phone close by
My wife and daughter
think my name is
narrow wooden bridge
suspended over canyon
with mist fogging
mossy seaside crags
In reality I am
man eating peanut
butter cookies
wishing I could
lock shoulders again
with boyhood buddies
despite graying hair
Published September 2006
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