From the New World

Posted on 2020-04-01 by Bartholomew Barker

For today’s prompt, write a new world poem.

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From the New World

Dvorak’s Ninth could have only been written in America,
far from his Bohemian home of mountains and forests.
Clear-cut farmlands from New York to Iowa, wide open spaces
inspired music to be played under summer stars.

Location informs creation, the way airborne yeast
infect the sourdough starter or stormy castle nights
with Byron and Shelley conceive Frankenstein.

Going home triumphant to Europe,
his reputation confirmed,
Dvorak would never leave Bohemia again.

I’ve been to Iowa but never Spillville,
where he completed the symphony
except when I listen through his ears
and then I’m native.

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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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4 Responses to From the New World

  1. JeanMarie's avatar JeanMarie says:
    2020-04-01 at 20:53

    Congratulations on successfully completely day 1 of this grueling April journey!

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  2. Lisa Tomey-Zonneveld's avatar Lisa Tomey says:
    2020-04-02 at 09:06

    Amazing how music takes us to another place. In my opinion, that’s what makes my kind of music. Maybe why I love the late 60s and early 70s.

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