This week let’s write a purpose poem. Do poems have to have a purpose? Do people? Prompts obviously have a purpose: to produce poetry. Post your purpose-driven poem in the comment below.
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 
Poetry has purpose
whether it’s to nuture the soul
or encourage thought
or somewhere in the middle
poets have purpose
to turn their words
into gyrations of the soul
imagine life without poetry
perish that thought
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Posted by Lisa Tomey | August 9, 2021, 8:48 AMLove the gyrations of the soul. Well done!
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Posted by Bartholomew Barker | August 9, 2021, 5:55 PMThank you, I had fun with that line.
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Posted by Lisa Tomey | August 10, 2021, 7:27 AMHello
Today I’d like to offer three connected haikus
In the end
my tattered soul will be enough
to see God’s face and live
Like the trains that run on Sodor
striving to be a useful engine
No glorious purpose for me
enough to be grace for other folks
For those of you who were not around children in the 90’s, there was an English series called Thomas the tank Engine on PBS. It had a recurring role for a magic and miniature conductor played by Ringo Starr. What 90’s mom wouldn’t love something like that. Now I can share it with new people.
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Posted by Catherine Penafiel | August 10, 2021, 7:59 PMWell done! I love metaphors referring to pop culture even though this one is somewhat lost on me, only having a vague awareness of Thomas the Tank Engine.
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Posted by Bartholomew Barker | August 10, 2021, 8:14 PMwhat is the purpose of a poem
what makes a person driven to be a poet
the paper doesn’t intend to mock
the dark line of graphite
does not care where it is placed
its curves
straight
to each sufficiently small section
dragged on the page
so why do it
why carve the wood to a sharp point
why sit at a desk
with feet misaligned to the edges
of the dried wood pulp in front of me
have you ever looked at the world
and been transfixed by it
solid and real
and felt the imaginary
in the small quiet voice
have you ever seen the wonders of man
creativity crafted
in rare earths and ancient iron
with an inevitable detritus in its wake
have you not spent an afternoon with a child
and have sparked a memory of your own past
one a common heritage to our species
I will be a witness
to that story
of these times
by this being
marking my passage
a future red line
in something less indelible
but with more intention
than Mesabi’s red ore
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Posted by Chris Clarke | August 11, 2021, 10:56 PMLove that second stanza. Nicely done.
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Posted by Bartholomew Barker | August 12, 2021, 7:39 PMLikeLiked by 1 person
Posted by Bartholomew Barker | August 13, 2021, 8:00 PM