Rotary and Dissent

Posted on 2025-07-14 by Bartholomew Barker

I am very proud to announce that my poem, Then I Watched a World Forget, received a commendation in the Rotary Poet of the Year 2025 competition. (My entry appears on page 8 of the embedded PDF.)

I’ve been a member of Rotary for about eight years and both my parents are past presidents of the club in my Ohio hometown. This award will only encourage me to try harder next year.

I also want to highlight that the third of my three poems that appear in the Record of Dissent anthology, Learning about Nazis in High School, was posted over at the Chaos Section Poetry Project this weekend. I also learned that the anthology is now available in paperback, which satisfies this old poet greatly.

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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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41 Responses to Rotary and Dissent

  2. DD's avatar DD says:
    2025-07-14 at 19:51

    Congratulations Bartholomew.

    Liked by 1 person

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  3. Gypsie-Ami Offenbacher-Ferris's avatar Gypsie-Ami Offenbacher-Ferris says:
    2025-07-14 at 19:53

    Congratulations Bartholomew! What an honor!! 🏆

    Liked by 1 person

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  4. trE's avatar trE says:
    2025-07-14 at 20:02

    Bart, you just keep doing great things, and it’s wonderful to see. Congratulations! 🙌🏾👏🏾🎉

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
  5. Kim of Glover Gardens's avatar Kim of Glover Gardens says:
    2025-07-14 at 22:14

    I clicked to read your poem, Then I Watched a World Forget, and found it on page 8 of the Rotary publication. Powrful, poignant, and so very, very profound. Congrats on the recognition, and please keep sounding the alarm.

    Liked by 1 person

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  6. davidmasc's avatar davidmasc says:
    2025-07-15 at 03:05

    Congratulations!

    Liked by 1 person

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  7. berniebell1955's avatar berniebell1955 says:
    2025-07-15 at 03:15

    I used to work with a German lass who, when she was at school, had been taken to Belsen. The Germans were/are very strong on instilling in the youth how mistaken their ancestors were at that time. Personally, I thought it wasn’t a good thing to do – Ute was very disturbed by her experience. She knew what had happened, was there any point in exposing children to such horrors? A big question.
    I think if a school wanted to take my kids to such a place (an academic question – as we don’t have any!), I’d say no. Teach them, try to teach them an over-all respect for others so that they wouldn’t be inclined to behave that way, but actually taking children there – not good, in my book.

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    • Bartholomew Barker's avatar Bartholomew Barker says:
      2025-07-15 at 19:05

      The Germans seem to have learned from the mistakes of their ancestors. At least they aren’t the ones building concentration camps now.

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      • berniebell1955's avatar berniebell1955 says:
        2025-07-16 at 05:28

        I was thinking – how long will it be before children are being taken round the wreckage/horror left from Trump’s rule?

        Does a nation have to go through something like that, to learn? I don’t know…just thinking – a nasty job, but someone’s got to do it!

        Liked by 1 person

      • Bartholomew Barker's avatar Bartholomew Barker says:
        2025-07-16 at 21:31

        Don’t know. We still haven’t resolved our Civil War yet but maybe when things get really bad, that’ll prompt the survivors to get really good.

        Like

  8. Ephemeral Encounters's avatar Ephemeral Encounters says:
    2025-07-15 at 05:15

    Awesome !
    Congratulations Bart.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  9. GraceoftheSun's avatar GraceoftheSun says:
    2025-07-15 at 13:49

    Congratulations! Wonderful. 💕

    Liked by 1 person

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  10. JeanMarie's avatar JeanMarie says:
    2025-07-16 at 02:11

    Wonderful news. Congratulations! Your star continues to rise in the poetry world, and deservedly so.

    Liked by 1 person

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  11. Cindy Georgakas's avatar Cindy Georgakas says:
    2025-07-16 at 10:40

    This is awesome, Bart 😎

    Liked by 1 person

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  13. Michele Lee's avatar Michele Lee says:
    2025-07-16 at 22:32

    Great work, Bart! Making a difference. 🕊️

    Liked by 1 person

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  14. magickmermaid's avatar magickmermaid says:
    2025-07-17 at 12:14

    Congratulations!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  15. Dawn Pisturino's avatar Dawn Pisturino says:
    2025-07-17 at 13:26

    Congratulations!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  16. LuAnne Holder's avatar LuAnne Holder says:
    2025-07-18 at 12:50

    I just read your poem, I Learned About Nazis in High School and was quite touched. One of my daughters lives in Germany and has for about 10 years. My dad flew missions over Germany in WWII. He did not actually drop the bombs but he was the plane’s navigator. When I visit her it is so obvious in the architecture which buildings had been bombed and which hadn’t. But back to your poem, the ending is quite sad but oh, so true. Even though my dad was a Republican all his voting life (he died in 1980) he would have never supported this guy in office now. I was just talking to my husband this morning about how could this really happen? But it has. Congratulations for your publication. This perspective needs to be shared.

    Liked by 1 person

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  17. Chico’s Mom's avatar Chico’s Mom says:
    2025-07-31 at 20:03

    Congratulations

    Liked by 2 people

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