Tick-Tock
Your television
is getting desperate.
Soon it will yell
accusations and promises,
innuendo and fevered dreams.
The clock is counting down
to Election Day.
There’s a reason
they spend money
on advertising.
It works.
There are enough stupid people
out there who’ll buy anything,
pills, gadgets, lies,
but you’re not one of them,
are you?
(From today’s Living Poetry prompt.)
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.
Bartholomew Barker, Poet 
I’m going to have nightmares about those eyebrows! Good poem. :)
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Just image being cradled in the eyebrows while you’re lulled to sleep. Thanks!
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Response to the weekly prompt:
Tick Tock
Growing up with clock ticking
Pillows with feathers
Hard with tails sticking
Restlessness through the night, weathering
Longing for relief
On a hot Texas night
Air coolers help with grief
Of coolness not in sight
Sleeping on the living room floor
Was all there was to have
If you wanted relief anymore
You were out of luck, be brave
This is a test of the heat
This is a way to get through
Preparing us for future feats
We learned to fit in the groove
Tick Tock goes the alarm clock
This sound lulls me to sleep
Tick Tock until the alarm rocks
To sleep is the only relief
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Very nice. Thanks for writing to the prompt!
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Thank you!
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Nice one!
I’m going to give it a try and might not be my best
Tick Tock
Tick tock
Tick tock
The clock ticks
while I sit
and watch it tick.
When will It stop?
When will it pause?
The tick on the clock
never stops
and remain still.
Time is constant
as I am learning this
as I sit in my room watching
the clock on the wall.
The clock moves at a constant speed
and it never stalls.
For a whole day just watching
the clock and I am getting bored.
But then, all of a sudden
The tock stop ticking
on the clock.
My eyes were about to pop.
I was panicking.
I ran to the kitchen screaming
at mommy and daddy
Telling them the world will be ending.
They followed me to my room.
My dad took the clock off the wall
and called me a fool.
He said “The batteries are dead
and we need new ones.
You are not that bright son.
Just because this clock stopped,
doesn’t mean the time stopped worldwide.
Now go to the store and buy batteries and
stop wasting my time”
Now you see, the I learned that time is moving
and time is precious
but it’s a bad common habit to waste someone else’s and this was my most important lesson
because time we don’t get back.
Wasting time in the present will become the past tomorrow.
So to everyone reading this
Live life to the fullest today,
so you won’t live in regret tomorrow
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Fun story with a proper moral. Thanks!
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Excellent portrayal!
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