The sun’s no hotter
It’s just the atmosphere
soaking it all in
like a pasty beach body
with no SPF
Burning
We slept too long
skin red as a tornado
on doppler or a lobster
boiling in a pot
This is the inheritance
of my angry children—
blisters and pain
in a world inflamed
Written to this week’s Living Poetry Prompt: Heirloom and Go Dog Go Cafe’s Tuesday Writing Prompt Challenge which provided the picture.
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 
It’s a wonderful modern poem! Loved the pic as well👍
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Thanks! Check out the Go Dog Go Cafe and post your own poem to the pic.
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Wow, it’s a great idea! Thanks for sharing 🥂
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Ouch. Pass the aloe
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Too bad we can’t slather the whole planet in aloe.
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I love the clever use of the sunburn metaphor as a wake up call re: climate change. Cleverly done!
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Thank you. Glad the metaphor worked.
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How appropriate for these times.
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Sadly so. Thanks!
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