Fencing
By Don Campbell

 

A long time ago I used to
lean on a fence to watch
my son play on a playground

 

That's just a memory

 

I've seen fences used to keep people
from stepping on plants, pilfering trees

 

Those got old too

 

Now my new wife daydreams
about our future house and
its fenced herbs and vegetables

 

My mind likes to wrap
itself around that idea

 

News

 

I could go off making donuts
on the just opened 6th St bridge

 

I could disappear amidst a crowd
and emerge with a new strain

 

I could produce a gun in my car
and get shot and killed by police

 

I could fly a plane into the ocean
and be rescued by beachgoers

 

(during the 2022 California Surf Lifesaving
Association Junior Lifeguard Championship, no less)

 

I could pay the rent or buy
a single Springsteen ticket

 

I could put my money through a machine and hope
a string of numbers will come my way (maybe)

 

No, I think I'll do the miracles I do
every day I wake up and hug my wife

 

Don Kingfisher Campbell from U.S. is an MFA from Antioch University L.A. He taught at Occidental College Upward Bound for 36 years, been poetry editor of the Angel City Review, publisher of Spectrum magazine, and host of the Saturday Afternoon Poetry reading and workshop series in Pasadena, California.