Audre Lorde

Posted on 2024-10-21 by Bartholomew Barker

She sits at the bar of my favorite strip club,
drinking something tropical. I try to flirt
by paraphrasing the last stanza of one her poems,
asking who survived all those liberations.
She just smirks.

I tell her my first ex-wife also graduated
from Hunter and she taps my arm like a mother
dismissing a demanding child.

So I buy her some time with my two favorite dancers
to explore The Erotic.

I was hoping she’d teach me about poetry, politics
and protest but I was born straight, white and male—
pre-liberated in America.

 

(For Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt and Living Poetry’s Monday Poetry Prompt. I think we all know who Audre Lorde would vote for. Time to go to the polls!)

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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.
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7 Responses to Audre Lorde

  1. trE's avatar trE says:
    2024-10-21 at 20:52

    The incomparable Audre Lorde. 🙏🏾💙 What a great poem in her honor.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
  2. luisa zambrotta's avatar luisa zambrotta says:
    2024-10-22 at 05:50

    What a wonderful poem in her honour.💓💓💓

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

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