Need Comfort? Try . . .
to walk in a supermarket
pushing a shopping cart
with store muzak wafting
fluorescent lights buzzing above
could be any major city
in the good ol' familiar US
see those bright friendly
boxes of Tide and All
pyramid families of fruits
rows of Campbell's and Cheetos
the 1/2 price bakery cart
the Cosmopolitan magazine woman
greeting me at the checkstand
then I'm stepping out
into the pole lamp
lit American Night
Volkswagen Vanagons
Honda Civics
Jeep Cherokees in the parking lot
turn my ignition key to return
to the California stucco apartment
I live in, whistling mindlessly
an America tune from my car radio
after I pull out
another car pulls in
Don "Kingfisher" Campbell
Don "Kingfisher" Campbell teaches writing in the California Poets
In the Schools and Occidental College Upward Bound programs and hosts Tuesday
Night Poetry at Borders Books in Pasadena.