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It's a letter to a baby girl, telling her a bit about her grandparents. "I felt I wasn't really going to see her grow up," he said. "Now she's 17."
Campbell's poem is featured in the anthology "Child of My Child: Poems and Stories for Grandparents" by indie publisher Gelles-Cole Literary Enterprises in Woodstock, N.Y. More than 60 authors from around the world are featured, touching on subjects ranging from the lighthearted to serious.
The anthology is officially released today -- Grandparents Day.
Campbell, a 10-year resident of Beaufort with his wife and fellow poet, Karen Peluso, essentially wrote the poem over the course of Jessica's life.
Like most poems, he tweaked and polished his words until he could finally find a place to have it published. A grandfather of nine, he saw the call for grandparent-related poems in the back of a writers' publication and submitted his.
The New Jersey native started writing seriously about 25 years ago. He was dyslexic and figured the best way to combat it was to write. He started with what he half jokingly called "very bad prose" and moved into poetry.
Since, he's been read in publications such as Journal of New Jersey Poets and Writer's Digest. His poem "My Veteran's Day Prayer" was entered into the Congressional Record by U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson.
He and his wife also host fellow writers at their house throughout the year, a means for them to get away and focus on their work.
"We don't ask for anything," Campbell said. "Just that when you win a Pulitzer Prize, you send us a little plaque or something."
