This week let’s write a poem with the words apply, sometimes and success in it. This is another of those prompts where I randomly choose three words from a list of the top 1000 words in the English language plus a few of my favorites. Believe it or not, I rolled the dice and really got that sequence of words so resist the obvious and post your poems in the comments 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 
Love Passed Down
I think my Mother wished for me to know
that she was capable
of a kind of greatness,
the kind that puts flesh on love,
and lives in the reverberation of longing
for a better, a divine love,
applied to each beloved.
She seemed an architect
of a present and particular
universe. Witness! Her love of me.
She washed the windows
of her expectation for this time,
this time, it would be true,
success against all odds, what matter the past?
This time I would find life tame and graceful,
pliable, eager to please, loaded down with gifts.
This time life would be
a smooth and gallant amble
coming home windblown and fresh
to warm stability,
to tea with cream by the roaring fire.
Sometimes, it is.
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Posted by ts19page | January 17, 2022, 8:32 AMExcellent! Love the line “the kind that puts flesh on love”.
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Posted by Bartholomew Barker | January 17, 2022, 6:32 PMThank you, Bartholomew.
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Posted by ts19page | January 18, 2022, 2:19 AMThe wound has scarred up
even if it were not visible
anymore
“Apply liberally as needed”
the directions said
Sometimes less, sometimes more
as the day and wind dictated
how true to the words I would be
And now
here is success
a normal-looking me
sticking the course
to the next valley and beyond
and you
full of your navel and cheap booze
are, as always, unconcerned
the one you left
by the ditch has
crawled out
not seeking revenge
but with a hope
your ditch
which is still ahead for you
may be less painful
but just as transformative
as the one you left me in
and that may never have to find out
if you have the strength to crawl
when your tribe decides
you aren’t worth the effort to drag along
because we both know the answer
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Posted by Chris Clarke | January 17, 2022, 3:13 PMPowerful! Love the “full of your navel and cheap booze”.
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Posted by Bartholomew Barker | January 17, 2022, 6:34 PMJust in case you thought a curse had no power in these latter days, this work proves otherwise. I felt so glad not be this person! So few words, so much meaning. Works with a great flow, except maybe there is a ‘you’ missing in the next to last verse.
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Posted by ts19page | January 22, 2022, 11:00 AMIf I apply myself to the problem
I may find success
Sometimes….
No. Every time
I cannot resist the low hanging fruit
Call me MOTO
(Master of the Obvious)
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Posted by JeanMarie | January 17, 2022, 3:42 PMHa! The low hanging fruit tastes the sweetest. Well done, MOTO!
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Posted by Bartholomew Barker | January 17, 2022, 6:35 PMLate to this party, but here it is
My second job was a rousing success
I applied myself to mastering the art and science of space
Those days are long gone
Sometimes the grandest thing in a day is answering the same question again
I miss the passion project of my younger self
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Posted by Second Act Blogger | January 21, 2022, 10:52 PMLove the “art and science of space”. Ah lovely regrets. Well done.
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Posted by Bartholomew Barker | January 21, 2022, 11:27 PMOh yes. Nostalgia for the days when we were changing the world.💜
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Posted by JeanMarie | January 22, 2022, 4:04 PM