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WHAT I AM I am poem read with feminine hands on white paper from wooden lectern/altar in bookstore words tout taut angles amidst installed flora fauna I am French Toast with whipped butter and aluminum cup syrup on white restaurant china glass of squeezed orange juice aside above laminated maple I am Yes music playing portable CD player the jewel case lying atop with Roger Dean art on booklet Spanish Wes Montgomery guitar meshing bass drums baroque keyboards and angel voice I am NBA basketball imagined on asphalt in jeans and T-shirts an elementary school grassfree playground until dark comes I am driver of red pickup deftly avoid crowds of freeway chained cars into offramps occasionally street potholed what a rush I am student at East L.A. school classroom carpetless thirty year old books littered graffiti brown skin on carved desks I am wife daughter daily Te Amo phone calls second grade homework gymnastics painting tennis swap meet weekends bicycle to the cosmetic exchange mall I am clouds sky sun blind look over earthly toys wonder whether to give all shake or storm to stir poetry © Don "Kingfisher" Campbell |
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Commentary: Dorothy Randall Gray was the Guest Poet in my week-long writing workshop with a High School class. She asked us to make a list of things that make us who we are. Our interests. Our passions. And to write a poem on one of them. I found myself wanting to show that I am a person of many interests/loves. It became metaphorical when I realized that if I made each stanza begin with "I am...", followed directly by the object/person, without using an article, it increased the intensity of the poem. Don "Kingfisher" Campbell Bonfire contributor |