i don’t want to be
someone else who just
wants something from you

poets and teachers
go through their days “mixing
language and sunlight”

leaves pile around
the parked car in the driveway–
son away at school

birds flit through the hedge
as a squirrel scampers
up a tree from a running dog
as clouds drift
across the sky as

Tags: dr. andrew campbell, poetry, u.s.