The poet wearing his first pair of glasses
or Before my First Pair of Glasses
Trees were blobs of green
as I counted the days
to summer vacation.
Chalk on the blackboard
smudged meaningless
until called to the front
to diagram a sentence.
My teacher’s face — a blur
when she sat at her desk.
I would roll my eyes
from the back row
at her scolds and sermons.
If I couldn’t see her face,
how could she see mine?
(This was written in early April at a Living Poetry Germination Workshop to the prompt: Spring — Seventh Grade.)
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 
You look the same!
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That’s right! Though the graduation pic I keep in the attic has aged dramatically.
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:/)
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