Goals
Watching men from Ecuador and Senegal
play football in Qatar from a bar in Ireland
this poet from the United States
acknowledges his decadence.
Fortune kissed my forehead at birth
when I came out white, straight and male
in America.
I can take my freedom for granted,
unlike my sisters in Iran
who cannot choose what they wear,
unlike my gay siblings in Qatar
who cannot share who they love,
unlike my nieces and nephews back home
who are dying in schools and bars
for my so-called freedom.
Freedom is not gun with six bullets.
Freedom is not a bottle of wine
that empties with each glass.
Freedom is a flame.
A flame that when shared
makes the whole world
warmer and brighter.
And like those players,
running on green grass in the desert
we should each be free to pursue
our goals
but unlike at the World Cup
we can all win.
Bartholomew Barker, Poet 
I think we can all win, jf people who have so much more than most agree to settle for less.
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Not implying you. Just thinking of the top 1 and 2%
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I disagree. Even I, in the top 25% maybe, should be paying more in taxes to help improve everyone’s life. I don’t want to be a rich man in a poor country.
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Love the acknowledgement of privilege. And “freedom is a flame”. The whole world is burning with that flame it seems. I don’t think we have freedom here because if we do why do I always feel so paranoid? Between gun violence, hate crimes, earth rapers, the tyranny of the elite, and etc, etc, etc, I think we need to turn that flame up higher. But I love the poem.
M
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I think the whole concept of “freedom” is very ill defined but that’s another poem.
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Agreed. Maybe many poems. Maybe I should try to write one!
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Definitely. I look forward to reading it!
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Uh oh. What have I done.
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Set me off singing ‘Me & Bobby Magee’ …’Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.’
That’s one angle to it.
And there’s this by The Isley Brothers……. https://www.google.com/search?q=freedom%27+the+isley+brothers+lyrics&oq
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Indeed. Freedom is a slippery subject.
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🖤🖤🖤
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Glad you approve.
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Mostly poetry….including yours….
http://www.spanglefish.com/berniesblog/blog.asp?blogid=16037
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Thanks for sharing my work, my fellow BB!
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Just spreading the good stuff…..
B+
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Pingback: The Sunflower Sessions Open Mic | Bartholomew Barker, Poet
It is easy to appreciate the cosmopolitan world citizen the first paragraph illustrates, a fitting verse for our times. It is also difficult to write about a pain that does not touch one personally, therefore this comes across as a compassionate outreach to others, and you could say that freedom without compassion is of no use to anyone.
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Agreed. Freedom without compassion would descend into might makes right.
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