Venus beckons me from the twilight sky
but I am firmly rooted in my planet.
My bare feet squish through soggy soil
on my evening walk after a soaking rain.
The clouds reach down to caress
my hair with a misty breeze
but they cannot elevate me
to their layer of heaven.
No, I am of the Earth, born and raised,
and despite shoes and socks,
basements and bamboo floors,
I am still connected to my home.
(For today’s prompt, write a touch poem.)
About Bartholomew Barker
Bartholomew Barker is one of the organizers of Living Poetry, a collection of poets and poetry lovers in the Triangle region of North Carolina. 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 makes money as a computer programmer to fund his poetry habit.
Bartholomew Barker, Poet 
Very nice
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks!
LikeLike
well done
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, JM! It feels like it should be a sonnet but I couldn’t come up with a final couplet.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I was wondering why you stopped at 12 lines. if you work shopped this I would suggest …
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow. This is really beautiful writing. I could feel the energy and connection of the moment.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks! The prompt was to write about the sense of touch which is one of more visceral senses, like smell.
LikeLiked by 2 people
My eldest sister used to go on retreat to Lough Derg, in Ireland. She spent her working life as a nurse – first psychiatric, then geriatric. She needed to go on retreat now and then.
She said that one of the things which she liked most was to stand at the edge of the lough, barefoot, with her feet in the mud and just feel it – feel the mud between her toes, and the wetness, and the earth.
She’d just stand there – Grounded.
Did her a world of good.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I know how she feels, though I had to look up what a “lough” was.
LikeLike
In praise of earth
LikeLiked by 1 person
Especially mud!
LikeLiked by 1 person