I am proud to announce that my poem For the Teenage Girl in the Parking Lot was published in the latest issue of The Taborian yesterday. Just like in the movies, this one was inspired by true events and I’d submitted it to a dozen journals over the past three years before finding a home.
Many thanks to the team at The Taborian for accepting my work.
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 
this is brilliant and moving; what is wrong with those other journals; if I were editor — and I have been — I would have accepted this straight away; thank goodness you had faith in your own work; this is going in my commonplace book where I keep the BEST poems —
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Wow. I’m honored, John! I need you to get on more editorial boards.
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lol,
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Very powerful. Congratulations.
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I love this. It feels so immense when you are a teenager.
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I still can’t believe how powerful emotions were back then. Sometimes I miss that intensity but most of the time I’m glad I’m over it.
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“You think you’ll never love again
but there are plenty of black t-shirts yet to come.”
This is such a superb ending. And the poem itself reads like a bit of advice from someone who’s been there and did that without sounding “preachy.”
Very nicely done!
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Thanks, Tre! It’s hard for those of us “of a certain age” not to preach to the youth of today. They are doing it all wrong, after all. Just like we did.
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🙏🏾💙 True. Very true. Gotta learn, though.
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I remember, or I think I do, an early version of this in workshop. This is a much better poem. Congratulations on another publication
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Yes, I’m sure I brought it to one of the pandemic workshops when we were first on Zoom. Thank you for your feedback!
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That first “black t-shirt” is so painful! Excellent poem Bart and congratulations on your publication!
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Thank you, Michele! Hope you haven’t had to return too many black t-shirts.
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You’re welcome, Bart. Very considerate of you – no, not too many. 😌
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Wonderful poem, Bartholomew. I remember well my first ‘black t-shirt”. Such pain!
A few years after going our separate ways, we got back together and eventually married. I lost him a second time to death. 💙
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Glad you liked it, Kate. I’d love to read a poem comparing your the grief of your black t-shirt event with the grief of your husband’s death. If you’re ready to write it, of course.
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You know, I actually wrote a poem about him a couple of weeks ago. I’ll give you a heads up when I post it, Bartholomew.
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Please do!
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Congrats
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Thanks, Anita!
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Powerful stuff.
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Thanks, DD! Young emotions are powerful indeed.
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I’m finding some of the older ones challenging too. hahaha
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Fantastic Bartholomew! Always intrigues me when a hundred publishers turn down a piece and one absolutely falls in love with it! Congratulations! 🎈🍾
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Thanks, Gypsie! I really do think it’s just a numbers game. Keep submitting and submitting and eventual you’ll get accepted.
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Wonderful poem! Congratulations!
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Thank you, Dawn!
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Great poem
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Thank you, Mr. Rowan.
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Congratulations 🎉 my friend! Well deserved and well done on your persistence!! 👏💗
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Thank you, Pam! Persistence is 87% of success.
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You are so welcome my friend! I always look forward to your posts and I appreciate your kind support and encouragement on my writing journey!! 💗✨
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