W O R L D S T O N E S
1 > Man Made World (1997)
2 > The World Is (2003)
3 > Make Your Mark in the World (2003)
4 > Another Green World (2003)
5 > Sexual World (2004)
6 > The Edge of the World (2006)
7 > Poetry World (12 05 2007)
8 > That Hidden World of Feeling and Resentment (03 22 2008)
9 > Rectangular World (07 02 2008)
10 > The Relocation of the Japanese in World War II (08 28 2008)
11 > If California Was the World (11 26 2008)
12 > Skittles World (11 07 2009)
13 > Worlds (12 30 2010)
14 > Naked to the World (06 15 2013)
15 > A Miniature World (03 29 2014)
16 > Kristian Mensa World (05 13 2015)
17 > In the World of Plants (11 16 2017)
18 > Where in the world (09 20 2018)
19 > In Cyber World (08 17 2021)
20 > In the World War III Museum (11 23 2022)
21 > Living in a World Time That Occasionally Rhymes (05 19 2023)
23 > I’ll never live in a world without cars (06 13 2023)
24 > She lives in a world of noise (06 16 2023)
25 > I love to sniff the world (06 19 2023)
26 > How Can a World (12 25 2023)
27 > At the World War III Museum (12 28 2024)
This chapbook compilation copyright 2025 by Don Kingfisher Campbell
Published by Four Feathers Press http://fourfeatherspress.blogspot.com
01 > Man Made World
beasts speed past
sign trees
green flower
turns amber
then red
forced breeze inside
rectangular caves spaced
along the solid river
giant fireflies illuminate
ink black sky
02 > The World Is
(1) A Jungle
mountains like
backs of
green leopards
little rectangle
houses are
colorful bugs
on land skin
a pride of
white fluffy
lions races
through ocean sky
but they
don't leave
brown dust in
exhausted air
it's rolling
gnats that
dully exhale
(2) A Church
from tiny ribbon
highway on flat horizon
downtown manuments
hundreds of times
smaller than
daily massive
white cloud
beings created to
occasionally grace
ants with tears
in return micro
creatures compost
poems in praise
of manifestations
of god force
3 > Make Your Mark in the World
All you need is a marker
Or even better a pocket knife
Then choose a public place
Maybe a mall or library
A school would be best
Now, wait for a lonely minute
And write your name large
(Use a code if you fear arrest)
Give yourself points for style
If you feel you have artistic ability
Clamber over a wall at night
So you can colorfully spray, impress
Passersby to see what you've left behind
They will comment on it like art
Some may grumble, call for a janitor
But don't let those painted squares
Stop you from achieving notoriety
Continue to alter original designs
Until you grow tired of the game
And settle into more mature activities
Like using a gun or a bomb
If you become smart someday
You might have a chance to accomplish
The status of white collar criminal
All you need is a brain
04 > Another Green World
Another green world
with a deep red center
manufactured by
a single machine
to near perfect
roundness and shine
You can tell by looking
at each globe the process
of turning, building
around a buried core
produces a planet
shape once liquid
solidified into a pop
where every lick
reduces stable crystals
to break apart until
the truly pink middle
can be chomped by
mandibles masticating
the easily manipulated
chewy gum which comes
right off the white stick
held by a giant
human in need
of sweet salivary
satisfaction for
twenty minutes of a life
on a small sphere
that someday itself
may also be consumed
to the point of being
a memory, a legend, nothing
05 > Sexual World
Land stretches
like torsos
Valleys undulate
like backs
Hills curve
like breasts
Bushes grow
like public hair
Trees rise
like penises
Caves hollow
like vaginas
Waves crash
like orgasms
Clouds float
like semen
(The Earth was
a zygote.)
06 > The Edge of the World
A cold morning in the 60's. I walked up the modest hill to elementary school. Our rooms were middle class. My favorite time of day was recess...and lunch. We were set free to fly the concrete ramp as fast as we could to get to our Olympus, the playground, which was larger than the campus. We played German dodgeball on asphalt and shot marbles in the gutter that ran around the perimeter of the chain-link fence. In the corner was an open drain that usually had at least one orange potato bug to squash. But the most numinous sight to be seen on our mostly grassy rectangle was the surrounding fog that seemed to stop dead at our hill-top Fantasyland. We imagined that this was the end of the globe. To climb off would be to disappear into oblivion. So we stayed on our earthbound spaceship, running all over single digit years, until our metanoia made us never return. We sought new worlds to experience, each age beating in a different way, causing individual deaths. Child, teen, adult lives from which some would inevitably escape. Hordes of us remaining blessedly remembering decades of ecstasy at being able to pass on to the next level.
07 > Poetry World
I
Buy a plastic
see-thru binder
to keep your poetry in
Wear a thrift
store jacket
as you perform your poetry
Drive off in
your old Saturn
with poetry by your side
Go to sleep at night,
poetry sheets
warm you
Wake up
and sense
the poetry
Write something
to alert the planet
of your poetry dreams
II
The poetry
of
no hunger
The poetry
of
no hate
The poetry
of
no prejudice
The poetry
of
no classism
The poetry
of
no nations
The poetry
of
no war
The poetry
of
no pollution
The poetry
of
no warming
The poetry
of
no extinction
08 > That Hidden World of
Feeling and Resentment
that I of course
kept inside like a lemur
one day he wanted to bust out
and did and wrecked the place
I took notes on everything
he screeched to the windows
the infinite and abstract
current of my descriptions
through the universe
bowls of unhappiness resounded
left whole cities in ruins
changed the tilt of planets
but only in my mind
in reality I didn't go to work that week
and by repeating this creative method
soon I couldn't pay the rent
yet produced a chapbook of poems
each quarter to cement my legend
09 > Rectangular World
We wake up
in our respective
wooden boxes
Walk to get inside
a movable metal
and plastic box
Park by
a large steel
reinforced enclosure
And enter
through
a glass door
One boxy waiting area
with a wall-mounted
big screen TV
We are called
and led to a small
windowless
Almost square
examination
room
My daughter opens
her mouth to reveal
brace-filled rows
One tooth is crooked
and will have to be
moved into place
Makes me wipe my glasses
to think of the bills I’ll
have to write checks for
10 > The Relocation of the Japanese During World War II
took place almost
twenty years before
I was born
but I did
watch the Beatles
cartoons on Saturday
mornings where the
CIA had them
spy on slant-eyed
bad guys and
once I was
in elementary school
I befriended Ricky
Ascencio who coveted
a few of
my hundred Hot
Wheels my father
said you can't
trust those Mexicans
amazing that in
my first job
I met Lydia
Alvarez my first
wife I guess
he was right
no I cheated
on Graciela Rodriguez
after that so
it's a two-way
street now my
latino students make
fun of chinitos
negritos and gringos
do you know
Spanish Mr. Campbell
si mi esposa
es una chilanga
11 > If California Was the World
Gunmen kill at least 78 in 7 attacks in Sacramento
L.A. protestors enter main airport control tower
California bans teething drug after 25 children die
San Onofre says it now runs more than 5,000 centrifuges
CA governor rejects calls to step down
Catalina Islanders vote for expanding autonomy
Roadside bomb kills 2 in South L.A.
CHP: Rebels fleeing Weed stronghold
Los Angeles' Villaraigoza welcomes Russian warships
Alhambra teacher wants acid thrown on her attackers
12 > Skittles World
a schoolgirl hands me a little lumpy
red bag I salivatingly tear it open
drop the bunch of small shiny round
denizens on my journal they are
almost all colors of the rainbow (no blue)
and I remember when I was a boy
in school we would pretend each color
had a magical power the red ones with
a white S on top look like a Superman pill
take it and one can soar chew chew chew
cherry goodness (now I think of sex)
then the orange citrusly gushy giving the
ability to mind travel anywhere sunny on
Earth I still feel that way I go on a mental
vacation as I masticate the yellow of course
creates healthy flowing lemony piss (AKA
digestion like brown M&M's) and green
hands you knowledge of nature a lime
appreciation of trees finally purple sugar
people eating alien mysticism takes over
the universe all from a tiny bite size Halloween
gift in a classroom where work begins
13 > Worlds
1
World behind
fence
World
beyond
2
Natural
world
World
we've made
3
World
outside
World in
my mind
4
World I see
before me
World
after
5
I behold sandy shore
and walk with my eyes
I gaze at asphalt plain
and stomp with my heart
6
Best of my world
I perceive
Lives every day
around my nose
14 > Naked to the World
I want to taste
the peaches
from your tree
Then lie down
eat the grass
After that
burrow into
your dewy hole
And make it
flood flood flood
15 > A Miniature World
In my 9x12 bedroom I used to build
suburban tract houses out of Lego
White bricks and red windows and doors
complete with green platform yards
And flat gray driveways for Hot Wheels
to return home from work roll-up and park
On holidays pass paper marker-tagged
firework stands or Xmas tree lots
Then after a dinner of Spaghetti-O's
mixed into chili back out and drive
On bedspread roads to the great
black and white drive-near TV theater
Sitting atop my wooden dresser
to watch Batman Star Trek
Gilligan's Island Columbo
Mash The Andy Griffith Show
Finally driven down for bedtime
homes temporarily relocated to my desk
Or play earthquake broken apart
pieces dumped in a Sears cardboard box
16 > Kristian Mensa World
Makes me jump like a cheerleader
Believe black keys are Kit Kat bars
Turtles can have oranges for shells
And seashell macaroni houses bees
Every time I see a computer power cord
I’ll envision a dentist’s drill in my mouth
And be Harry Potter with a wheat stalk broom
Enjoying the dark and white chocolate chip hair
Of a wicked vamp playing spaghetti guitar
To fill her mind fly our home with grapes
We’ll watch Ninja Turtles sporting pretzel masks
Even penne will smokestack our ship
Sit on screws as we drink leaves
Floating through the air like dog ears
Like a witch’s broom like a woman’s long hair
A bottle opener becomes a parrot
A fork is a Wolverine fist
I’ll find Spiderman’s face in my Converse
Spray the way with my Ritz watering can
17 > In the World of Plants
seed sinks into soil
moisture permeates shell
shoot stirs to be free
pushes sides to ground
senses light first time
unfurls petals like hands
applaud power of sun
convert heat to flower
full colors in the code
have sex with insects
unleash tiny pods
give thanks by closing
until the next warmth
18 > Where in the world
Can you live in a big city
Eat food from another culture
Tell time analog or digital
Enjoy the flowers summertime bloom
Wonder what is behind window shades
Children in some rooms draw self-portraits
Adults write their stories under fluorescent lights
Hoping someone will want to hear them
Step behind a microphone and hold it
Words slake thirst like water from a bottle
Applause is the cake you eat with your mind
19 > In Cyber World
I can travel to China in seconds
See my distant lover’s form 7,500 miles away
WeChat with face finding face
Smile matching smiles and fingers trace
The corners of the cell phone
Feel for a way into her apartment
Shiny floor reflects plain walls
A glass panel offers a little door
To peer through to locate a body
At this perspective clothing is optional
Meant to be removed sporting a coy grin
Underwear is the final frontier
Between us and naked conversation
Skin is a texture and eyes pool near
A sexy voice heard in unfamiliar language
Appendages react in visible display
Hard to hold on if one is howling
Repeat weekly until the travel ban lifts
Brings us both back to the same state
Where a hug can be physically felt
Not just imaged along by animated kisses
The messages entered will be remembered
Even after she and I press down to save for
The secret moments when we are truly alone
20 > In the World War III Museum
Piles of melted steel, rubbled bricks, and scattered wood shards to walk around for hours
Shells of ships, planes, trucks, and cars to gaze at from an uncomfortable short distance
Shadows of humans, dogs, cats, even mice to be observed on walls and floors so close you can almost touch them
Videos of world leaders in disagreement, of people segregated in differently named countries and neighborhoods, in this bunker
Finally, on these tables, mounds of cooked hair, scrapings of charred flesh, and chunks of fragmented bones as evidence we were all the same
21 > Living in a world time
That occasionally rhymes
Where you learn easily
To love a familial entity
Much bigger than you
Who picks you up and
Holds you tenderly
You become larger
Until the day comes
When you step and wait
To live on a planet
Where you try to equate
Ultimately the hour rounds
Where around you watch
The frail exist bedbound
As seconds tick
Breaths faint sound
Then release from hell
Into a non-existent spell
A plane where life develops
Mouth, ears, eyes in shell
That turns and rots well
Feeds the ground gain
Where new creatures
Work along the chain
To reach the moment of
Inhale again and again
Where intake of water, milk
Apples, oranges, bananas
Rice, noodles, buns, fun
Hugs, kisses, copulation
Nurture self-replication
All made possible where fraught
The gift of movement
Language and thought
Examination of being sought
Implements innate desires
22 > I will never live in a world without cars
My wife didn't feel like cooking tonight because she hurt her pinky playing basketball with me at the park in the morning
So we stopped shooting and I drove her to the nearby Ross to shop for cool clothes since it was Senior Tuesday
While we were waiting in line I saw an old girlfriend in the next aisle looking at merchandise
I immediately turned and said nothing
Here we are now at the Wendy's where my ex-wife liked to dispense Diet Dr. Pepper from the self-serve machine
I drink the same formula and look out the windows at autos passing briskly to get home
Maybe we should go too
23 > She lives in a world of noise
In the middle of the quiet night
She hears footsteps to the bathroom
It's late and she's sleepy
In the morning she senses
Doors opening and window
Shades scrolled up and open
Then comes cooking sounds
Click click of activated stove
Sizzling wok, stirring wand
Welcome odors arrive to table
She lifts herself, saunters over
To get near the meat content
A few bites of human food
She heads to the aluminum
Plate of kibble she knocks into
Laps water from a proximate tray
It is time for a walk outside
Swinging of iron gated entry
Paws on the concrete driveway
Occasional passing car
Distant construction bangs
Across the street one smells
She barks back in response to this
Sighted fenced canine protecting
After whizzing on grass lawn
Grandma's boots jogging in alley
She sniffs patch, inspired to squat
The crinkling of plastic bag
The closing of trash bin
The resumption of trotting
The tug of the leash helps
But she knows instinctively to
Step on familiar smooth floor
She turns and turns in a circle
To lie on her beloved bed
Proceeds to lick herself clean
Sometimes nibbling too well
Removing a tuft of fur because
She misses her vacationing master
If we go out without her
Sukie can hear the inserted key
And wake up from a nap
24 > I love to sniff the world
I put my nose to the ground
There I have found the odors
I seek in my day's existence
I need to whiff the concrete
Looking for traces of you
Where you last did pee
I usually detect you around
Clumps of grass smelling
Much like what came out
Then I am compelled to
Take a nibble of remnants
You left behind for me
My master doesn't approve
But understands it's my
Nature to take and give
Something for you too
To Inhale my sweetness
Exited from the same hole
The universal messages
We send to each other
Just to say I think of you
Even though we haven't
Met I know you smell so
Good you inspire me
25 > How Can a World
with a warm and brilliant sunrise
with a sun shaped floor heater
with toasty puffy jacket over my sweats
with a hot oatmeal and vegetable omelet
sporting a cheddar cheese heart
with cellphone music by Sun Q
with my wife hanging wet clothes to dry outside
with Facebook friends offering Xmas wishes
ever end
easy
especially if this was Gaza, Israel
but it's not, it's Alhambra, California
so we live on for another day
with peace here but not there
with hope that will change
into tranquility everywhere
not just in most places
26 > At the World War III Museum
Scattered cars in the parking lot
resembling burned popcorn
Shadows of people and dogs
on the scorched building walls
Inside mounds of bone and flesh
as if this was a supermarket
Go out into the Ground Zero
air and never come back again
