Something Inexpressible

Posted on 2016-11-28 by Bartholomew Barker

tango-dancers-3-1200466Swirls of masked dancers,
barely aware themselves,
confused and competing,
leading, jostling, following,
no reason.

We dance to beat the heart,
to rush the rivers,
push the wind,
and fuel the fire
in our core.

We don’t know why,
we are merely motion,
just a body grasping
for something
inexpressible.

(The first draft of this poem emerged from a group exercise with the kind folks at Charles House, Chapel Hill. It underwent radical revision with a bottle of wine and further refinement at a workshop. Thanks to all my co-poets!)

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About Bartholomew Barker

Bartholomew Barker is an organizer of Living Poetry, a collection of poets in the Triangle region of North Carolina where he has hosted a monthly feedback workshop for more than decade. His first poetry collection, Wednesday Night Regular, written in and about strip clubs, was published in 2013. His second, Milkshakes and Chilidogs, a chapbook of food inspired poetry was served in 2017. He was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2021. Born and raised in Ohio, studied in Chicago, he worked in Connecticut for nearly twenty years before moving to Hillsborough where he lives and writes poetry.
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