Partially Vaccinated

And somehow we’re already on our third Two-for-Tuesday prompt of the month. This is the one that shows up each and every April.

For this Two-for-Tuesday prompt from Robert Lee Brewer’s Write Better Poetry blog:

Write a love poem and/or…
Write an anti-love poem.

Partially Vaccinated

I love science and her glorious golden child,
modern medicine, without whom I’d be long dead.

As a boy, I was bussed across town with my schoolmates,
hustled into a strange gymnasium and, eyes wide and trembling,
a nail gun injected the polio vaccine into my chubby arm.

I didn’t cry but there may have been a tear.
The vaccines kept my young body safe, I did more damage
with bicycles and ramps than was done to me by any needle.

As I rushed to adulthood, my appendix perforated,
leaving toxic goo in my gut. Thanks to anesthetics
and antibiotics, it’s just a memory instead of an epitaph.

Yesterday I was in another school gymnasium surrounded
by masked people and we were all grateful, no fear,
only hope that soon it will be safe to hug our parents

once again.

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.

View all posts by Bartholomew Barker →

9 Responses to Partially Vaccinated

JeanMarie says:

2021-04-20 at 20:31

😍❤💋

LikeLiked by 1 person

- Bartholomew Barker says:
  
  2021-04-20 at 20:32
  
  Just 27 days until my second dose.
  
  LikeLike
  
Harley Reborn says:

2021-04-20 at 21:24

What a glorious beard! I get my second next week and I’m scared

LikeLiked by 1 person

- Bartholomew Barker says:
  
  2021-04-20 at 21:35
  
  I’ve been working hard on that beard for the past year.
  
  Be brave, expect to be really sick for a day and maybe you’ll be pleasantly surprised. Either way, it’ll be better than getting the wild virus.
  
  LikeLiked by 1 person
  
  - Harley Reborn says:
    
    2021-04-20 at 22:37
    
    I just don’t want to feel again like an alien is about to pop out
    
    LikeLiked by 1 person
  - Bartholomew Barker says:
    
    2021-04-20 at 22:48
    
    You don’t need a vaccine. You need birth control. ;)
    
    LikeLiked by 1 person
  - Harley Reborn says:
    
    2021-04-20 at 22:57
    
    Lol, not needed. My man took care of that 😉
    
    LikeLiked by 1 person
Carolyn Crossley VixenOfVerse says:

2021-04-21 at 06:45

Glad you got your first dose Bart. I am waiting for my second dose now. Thanks for reminding me about childhood vaccination, it reminds me how everyone should be getting it. Is there a big anti-vaccination movement in the US? We have a growing one here, mostly among the under 50s. ❤👩‍🦰❤

LikeLiked by 1 person

- Bartholomew Barker says:
  
  2021-04-21 at 17:44
  
  Yes, there’s a substantial anti-vax movement here too but after Trump there’s now a political anti-vax movement.
  
  LikeLike