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.
Living Poetry
The somber ombre sky of fading summer storms
a grey echo of our wedding day
Stale and frozen cascading roses
a sickly-sweet reminder of the future
crushed before the buds ripened.
I leave the cake topper on your grave
Happy Anniversary Darling
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Posted by JeanMarie | June 3, 2019, 3:12 PMWow. That’s so sad. Great work!
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Posted by Bartholomew Barker | June 3, 2019, 7:56 PMAww so sadly sweet. Love it!
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Posted by Lisa Tomey | June 4, 2019, 7:58 PMThanks Lisa!
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Posted by JeanMarie | June 10, 2019, 3:06 PMThis is awesome
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Posted by Lizzi | June 10, 2019, 1:31 PMThanks Lizzi.
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Posted by JeanMarie | June 10, 2019, 3:06 PMThanks. Does it hold up in meaning without the picture? I’m always so literal with these things! ha ha! I suppose I could change the “wedding day” to “wedding cake”…
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Posted by JeanMarie | June 3, 2019, 9:48 PMYes, it totally works without the picture.
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Posted by Bartholomew Barker | June 3, 2019, 10:03 PMHe called her Rose Bud
Tasting the sweetness he loved
No longer weeping
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Posted by Lisa Tomey | June 4, 2019, 7:09 PMNice little haiku. Well done!
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Posted by Bartholomew Barker | June 4, 2019, 7:12 PMThank you!
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Posted by Lisa Tomey | June 4, 2019, 7:58 PMI like this. Plus, great use of the prompt as a jump off to something wholly different. Note to self: don’t be so literal!
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Posted by JeanMarie | June 10, 2019, 3:05 PMThanks!!
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Posted by Lisa Tomey | June 10, 2019, 8:28 PM