Fraiku: No Kings

Posted on 2025-10-17 by Bartholomew Barker

Gather. Assemble.
Not so you don’t feel alone.
So no one else does.

Tomorrow, Saturday October 18th: Find an event near you. You are not the only one who sees the danger, the insanity, the corruption of the Republican regime.

Unknown's avatar

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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47 Responses to Fraiku: No Kings

  1. DD's avatar DD says:
    2025-10-17 at 20:20

    PROGRESS
    slavery
    apartheid
    integration
    participation
    disenfranchisement
    restoration
    revolution

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  2. equinoxio21's avatar equinoxio21 says:
    2025-10-17 at 20:49

    Best wishes tomorrow, from a Frenchman living in Mexico.
    🖇️

    Liked by 1 person

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  3. JeanMarie's avatar JeanMarie says:
    2025-10-17 at 21:48

    Indeed. Well penned.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  4. poetisatinta's avatar poetisatinta says:
    2025-10-18 at 02:13

    🙌 well said

    Liked by 1 person

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  5. berniebell1955's avatar berniebell1955 says:
    2025-10-18 at 03:39

    YES!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  8. Historian's avatar Historian says:
    2025-10-18 at 12:02

    America already rejected you fascists in November, stop trying to overturn democracy.

    Liked by 1 person

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    • Bartholomew Barker's avatar Bartholomew Barker says:
      2025-10-18 at 13:56

      We’re not trying to overturn democracy. We’re assembling to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. I think you’re confusing No Kings with January 6th.

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      • Historian's avatar Historian says:
        2025-10-18 at 14:05

        On the contrary, social media is filled with videos of you fascists calling for violence and claiming October 18 marks the start of civil war. Your claims to desire democracy are thin and laughable; the minute the people throw you out, the mask drops, and we see the totalitarian-loving insurrectionists underneath. The United States has no room for fanatical dictatorship-loving radicals like you, best to change your mindset or leave for greener pastures like North Korea.

        Liked by 1 person

      • Bartholomew Barker's avatar Bartholomew Barker says:
        2025-10-18 at 14:26

        You and I must monitor very different social media. And having just returned from the rally in my little North Carolina town, I can assert that no one stormed the historic courthouse. The only violence I noticed was when I accidentally stepped on someone’s foot while trying to make my way through the crowd. I’m confident that in five years, the date October 18th will have no emotional resonance unlike January 6th. But I’ve been wrong before. We’ll see…

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      • Historian's avatar Historian says:
        2025-10-18 at 14:32

        Well yeah, I monitor real media, not the Russian-controlled false environment that leftists exist in.

        These are your compatriots. People who are openly calling for violence, preparing for violence: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=58FB6zgdIlo

        Liked by 1 person

      • Bartholomew Barker's avatar Bartholomew Barker says:
        2025-10-18 at 15:01

        Maybe if you monitored the Russian-controlled false environment that my fellow leftists exist in then you’d see how mild and ineffectual we really are. Of course, you can always read more of my political poetry, straight from the source, no algorithms, no filters, just my thoughts expressed poetically.

        Liked by 1 person

      • Historian's avatar Historian says:
        2025-10-21 at 09:33

        I do not think Leftists are mild or ineffectual. Of course none of it is due to you, you have all of your ideological weaponry handed to you ready-made, talking points prepared, groundwork done for you by the special services. And your poetry did not do much for me, you’re an average leftist, there’s not much difference between them all. I did notice how fast you stopped talking about assigning blame for political violence once I posted the video of your compatriots though. 😉

        Liked by 1 person

      • Bartholomew Barker's avatar Bartholomew Barker says:
        2025-10-21 at 22:15

        I didn’t comment on the video you posted because I didn’t want to give it any views. I trust it’s as despicable as you wrote.

        And here we are, three days after the No Kings rally, and we didn’t overturn democracy nor is there a civil war. Just a few million Leftists don’t feel quite so alone.

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      • Historian's avatar Historian says:
        2025-10-22 at 08:09

        It took Mao decades to overthrow his government and set up his dictatorship, so I’m not quite sure what point you think you made. Even Lenin was imprisoned initially and exiled; so was Lula. The Soviet American leftist project began in 1922 or roughly thereabouts. A nation falls apart slowly, then all at once, and leftists are busy feverishly picking at the threads that hold the social and democratic fabric together.

        Liked by 1 person

  9. berniebell1955's avatar berniebell1955 says:
    2025-10-18 at 12:22

    Have you been watching the jolly inflatables taking the piss? The ego-inflated ones can’t bear to be mocked! Keep on mockin’…. Froggy & Co….Kermit for President!

    Liked by 1 person

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  10. Cheryl Batavia's avatar Cheryl Batavia says:
    2025-10-18 at 15:58

    Great post, Bart! I love the poem! ❤️ I have been watching No Kings rallies from many cities on YouTube today! It is encouraging to hear from so many diverse Americans defending democracy.

    Liked by 2 people

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    • Bartholomew Barker's avatar Bartholomew Barker says:
      2025-10-18 at 17:09

      Thanks, Cheryl! Even my little town in NC had about 500 patriots turn out for the rally.

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    • Historian's avatar Historian says:
      2025-10-22 at 08:17

      Defending democracy by… protesting a duly democratically elected President? 🤪🤪 It’s almost like when Stalin attacked Finland out of the blue and claimed it was “self defense”. In the leftist mind-space, it doesn’t have to be true, you just have to say it repeatedly, and have the fellow cultists say it, and the collective self-delusion magically makes it reality.

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      • Bartholomew Barker's avatar Bartholomew Barker says:
        2025-10-23 at 20:27

        Just this one response since I’ve got more political poetry to write.

        It’s important to protest duly democratically elected Presidents, legislators and even appointed judges. They need to know when we the people disagree with their decisions. Sign Petitions! March in the Streets! If we don’t protest they might think they can do anything they want.

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      • Historian's avatar Historian says:
        2025-10-28 at 11:27

        “Protest” is simply a term that leftists used to deny democratically elected opposition legitimacy when they are out of power. When they are in power, protest becomes “astroturf”, “extremism”, “insurrection”, etc..

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  11. berniebell1955's avatar berniebell1955 says:
    2025-10-19 at 07:21

    Some Kind Of A Poem?

    Totalitarian-loving insurrectionists
    Fanatical dictatorship-loving radicals

    Represented by inflatable animals
    And roller-disco habitués

    I think not.

    An Historian….
    Who isn’t

    Gives me more cause for concern.

    BB Oct ‘25

    Liked by 1 person

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    • Bartholomew Barker's avatar Bartholomew Barker says:
      2025-10-19 at 14:42

      shhh… Don’t mention the inflatable animals. They’re our secret weapon!

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    • Historian's avatar Historian says:
      2025-10-22 at 08:23

      You think one rally where everyone is on their best behavior suddenly erases decades of rhetorical and physical violence in pursuit of your political aims? You nutjobs just murdered one of your political opponents and then shocked the entire nation by openly celebrating it all over social media.

      You can’t erase the long history of fascistic fervor that stains your entire movement, because totalitarianism in the name of “justice” is at its core. One PR rally desperately trying to rehabilitate your image won’t change it, especially when you’re back at it the next day, assaulting law enforcement, threatening police, and hacking away at the institutions that protect democracy.

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      • berniebell1955's avatar berniebell1955 says:
        2025-10-22 at 08:32

        Bart…I strongly recommend that you completely ignore the ‘Historian’. Giving them attention feeds them. This is the voice of experience talking.

        Liked by 1 person

      • Historian's avatar Historian says:
        2025-10-22 at 08:35

        That was actually addressed to you, and it’s not surprising that you would run and attempt to circle the wagons to protect your cohort’s ideological coherence, as most leftists only have surface-level slogans with zero capacity to critically examine or support their slogans when challenged. Your sniveling defeat is accepted, go back to attacking democracy from the shadows.

        Liked by 1 person

  12. berniebell1955's avatar berniebell1955 says:
    2025-10-22 at 08:41

    I live in the light – and will not longer respond to your darkness.

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  13. ivor20's avatar ivor20 says:
    2025-10-23 at 19:14

    False Kings and foolish Czars, Bart …

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