Camel
by Marvin Bell
I am more than a camel. I am a mountain.
Do you see in me, humped,
your stooped parent? Do I not kneel, then rise
to shoulder your burdens, and your dreams?
A long-time professor at the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop, Marvin Bell (1937–2023) published numerous collections of poetry, including Stars Which See (1969), The Book of the Dead Man (2008), and The Lost Notebooks of the Maestro (2018). He was the recipient of the Lamont Award from the Academy of American Poets, Guggenheim and National Endowment for the Arts fellowships, and Senior Fulbright appointments to Yugoslavia and Australia.