This week let’s write a numb poem. Those who overindulge Tuesday night might find numbness an improvement Wednesday morning but still get some writing done.
Post your poem in the comments below and Happy New Year!
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 
Uncomfortably Numb
—————————–
You don’t want to drive
through this Carpal Tunnel.
There is no spectacular scenery
or fab destination on the other side.
A career on a computer keyboard
means shaking tingling hands.
I’d rather my heart be numb then
I wouldn’t drop my coffee cup.
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Posted by JeanMarie | December 30, 2019, 11:28 AMSo — take the exit to Starbucks BEFORE driving through the tunnel
(wink)
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Posted by Steve Croft | December 30, 2019, 1:05 PMExcellent! I’m lucky that my carpal tunnel wide enough for a semi.
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Posted by Bartholomew Barker | December 30, 2019, 5:18 PMI love this!
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Posted by Cassa Bassa | December 30, 2019, 8:17 PMThanks
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Posted by JeanMarie | December 30, 2019, 10:00 PMNumb heart would mean no hearty humor. But it is nice to have coffee. Decisions… nicely done.
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Posted by Lisa Tomey | January 1, 2020, 7:52 PMMy Blue Monday
This going concern of our world has
just too much concern. Will gunshots
ring in the new year like the last?
In schools, churches, even “secure”
naval bases beside seas now clogged
with plastic like all our cities’ sewers.
I look at the new year through a cracked
window. Between channels of happy
holiday movies my tv talks of domestic,
foreign policy: strapped workers still
scull the days, lose jobs — people died,
again, in wars — the world’s devils just
work their constant disarray. Who,
who will come hold the face
of my worry with a savior’s
life-giving confidence?
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Posted by Steve Croft | December 30, 2019, 1:18 PMp.s. I think I’d like to change my last line to
warm hands?
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Posted by Steve Croft | December 30, 2019, 3:45 PMWell… the prompt is numb so … numb hands?
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Posted by JeanMarie | December 30, 2019, 3:48 PMJeanMarie, I envision the poem’s speaker as numb
(wink)
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Posted by Steve Croft | December 30, 2019, 4:07 PMJust because you envision the poem that way, doesn’t mean that’s how the poet envisioned it.
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Posted by Bartholomew Barker | December 30, 2019, 5:22 PMI think your poem works, but as is, but if I had read it independent of this prompt, I wouldn’t have gotten “numb.” However, that’s ok because the prompts are simply a writing jump start. There are no hard and fast rules here.
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Posted by JeanMarie | December 30, 2019, 5:00 PMAgreed.
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Posted by Bartholomew Barker | December 30, 2019, 5:22 PMAn excellent screed!
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Posted by Bartholomew Barker | December 30, 2019, 5:20 PM👍
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Posted by Cassa Bassa | December 30, 2019, 8:20 PMI would love to face it with numbness. Well executed.
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Posted by Lisa Tomey | January 1, 2020, 7:49 PMThanks everyone. I looked up my speaker’s condition and he is in even worse shape than I thought —
“While emotional numbing blocks or shuts down negative feelings and experiences, it also shuts down the ability to experience pleasure, engage in positive interactions and social activities, and interferes with openness for intimacy, social interests, and problem-solving skills”
But one of the coping strategies is, as it turns out, washing dishes, so I’m sending my speaker to wash all the dishes (wink) —
“Zen teacher Thich Nhat Hanh calls this exercise “washing the dishes to wash the dishes”—not to get them over with so you can go watch TV. When you give yourself over to the experience, you get the mental refreshment and a clean kitchen.”
https://www.verywellmind.com/emotional-numbing-symptoms-2797372
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Posted by Steve Croft | January 2, 2020, 11:20 AMFascinating stuff.
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Posted by Bartholomew Barker | January 2, 2020, 4:35 PMNumbness
I’ve done my neck in
too much jigsaw puzzling it seems
The agony doesn’t stop me
you know
the holiday commitments
the cook, the chauffeur, the cleaning lady
Mild pain killers
barely scratches the surface
of an acute nerve pain
I am on edge with a contorted face
matching the crooked spine
The kids have been splashing in the pool
for hours
Guests start waking up
from the lunch coma
The late afternoon sun
mellows to a warm glow
It seems to be fitting
to play cafe del mar
while
I am making caipiroska cocktails
tasting is a must
for an amateur bartender
It takes at least three
to make the fourth one perfect
Everybody loves their drink
is it their smile
or the festival spirit
I am floating
without pain
I finally can see my life again
playing in slow motion
My heart rate slows down
My neck is no longer stiff
The music is fading into the household noise
The guests are happy I guess
their faces are blooming
Me?
I am ok I guess
in such pain free numbness
How else can it be?
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Posted by Cassa Bassa | December 30, 2019, 8:17 PMHappy New Year! Well done!
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Posted by Bartholomew Barker | December 30, 2019, 9:15 PMA wise man I knew used to say, Might as well be drunk as the way I am. ✔
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Posted by JeanMarie | December 30, 2019, 10:05 PMI agree with that wise man 😀
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Posted by Cassa Bassa | December 30, 2019, 10:29 PMLove this!
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Posted by Lisa Tomey | January 1, 2020, 7:46 PMThank you Lisa! And Happy New Decade!
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Posted by Cassa Bassa | January 1, 2020, 7:50 PMnumb to the darkness
more numb to the brightened light
all time is numbing
when the life of so many
are given to unknown flight
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Posted by Lisa Tomey | January 5, 2020, 12:33 PMVery interesting. Thanks for sharing.
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Posted by Bartholomew Barker | January 5, 2020, 7:57 PMThank you!
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Posted by Lisa Tomey | January 6, 2020, 4:34 AM