Author Archives: Bartholomew Barker
Gerald Ford’s Grave
My summer road trip has been disappointing in the lack of any new ancestral graves and I’ve barely made any progress on my genealogy so I thought I’d go for an easy win. I’ve been collecting Dead Presidents since my … Continue reading
I Write Her Weekly Haiku/Senryu Challenge #27
Her sly supple skin painted with welcoming words I’m eager to read (I follow a lot of poetry blogs and see various challenges floating around but this particular visual prompt by Bill Wadman got my attention, I assume the … Continue reading
Astronaut Sonnet
Astronaut Sonnet She floats in orbit around the pole wearing a skintight see-through spacesuit. She scans the club, observing the primitives who slip green paper into her Möbius garter. She doesn’t belong, neither angel nor alien, strutting eight inches above … Continue reading
Hourglass Published
My poem Hourglass was published this morning on Olive Skins, a new online journal for surreal or abstract art. Check it out!
Remember?
Remember? Remember when we fought Nazis instead of defending them? Remember when we liberated concentration camps instead of building them? Remember when we welcomed refugee children instead of jailing them? The greatest generation is dying and their grandchildren have become … Continue reading
Lake House
Lake House She lies in forest Green fresh from rain Living breath of earth Cool summer morn Mirrored in the lake Spinning dawn ghosts Light spilling over Guarding mountains She welcomes me back Slipping her doors With comfortable warmth ‘Round … Continue reading
Men at Work
Men at Work Watching men work their way down the bar, talking to women, unintroduced. The ladies play with these Lotharios like cats with mice. I envy the prey. I am alien here. A poet lost in a strange land, … Continue reading
Spring — Seventh Grade
or Before my First Pair of Glasses Trees were blobs of green as I counted the days to summer vacation. Chalk on the blackboard smudged meaningless until called to the front to diagram a sentence. My teacher’s face — a … Continue reading
Leap
You leapt into my arms knocking me on balance a phantom limb restored
Stopped
To conclude National Poetry Month, I attended a workshop offered by the North Carolina Writers’ Network, lead by our state Poet Laureate, Jaki Shelton Green, entitled The Poet Witnesses: Writing Documentary Poetry. For our writing prompt she shared a cool … Continue reading
