Weed Poem

Weeds
* dieback - death of plant stems, starting at tips

In only a few months
the first weeds appear
in what we remember.
Within a year or two
memories are infested,
hidden from each other,
then begin to wilt
into a dieback past.
And after many years
even a blue ribbon memory
all to itself
perfectly detailed
with even her red hair
blooming in the wind
is covered in tendrils
by climber vines that
slowly strangle the heart.

Copyright 2005-Dan Campbell

Bike Poem

Bike Ride

Richard Petty should see me now
riding this souped-up Chevy
zipping around the asphalt raceway.

I'm not a NASCAR legend like Petty,
not yet. The stands
by the bike path are nearly bare.
As I lean into the curve
I see only the puzzled stare
of an albino squirrel.

Two hundred laps later I see
the checkered flag at Daytona 500.
In the zone, I am one with my bike.
Watch me pass the sputtering joggers.
Smiling now, the firehose roar
of cicadas greets me. Jubilation
gushes through my raised fists
as I cross the finish line!

Copyright 2005 - Dan Campbell

Bird Poem

Avian Mid-life Crisis

* dedicated to sister Nita and her parakeet

I don't need much room to sing
said the bird in search of a cage.
This world is just too large for wings.

I'm tired of flying from Winter to Spring,
who needs this mindless pilgrimage?
I don't need much room to sing.

And all those hours spent scavenging
for worms are too much in middle-age.
This world is just too large for wings.

Don't you preach that I'm forfeiting
my bird heritage; I'm sick of your outrage.
I don't need much room to sing.

I've sown my bird seed, had my fling.
Clipped feathers serve as lovely foliage.
This world is just too large for wings.

Behind bars, I can chirp all evening.
A cage is not a prison, but a stage.
I don't need much room to sing.
This world is just too large for wings.

Copyright 2005 - Dan Campbell
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(This poem is a villanelle. The villanelle has been around for about 300 years, and has origins in Italian and French poetry. It has a complex rhymed pattern, which makes it challenging by rewarding to write. What makes a villanelle unique is the repetition of rhymes, and the order in which they fall. The pattern is five triplets followed by a quatrain, and the first line of the first stanza is repeated in its entirety three more times in the poem, in Line 6, Line 12, and Line 18. The third line of the first stanza is repeated in Line 9, Line 15, and Line 19.)