This week let’s write a poem with the words nation, program and thin 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. Post your poems in the comments below.
About Bartholomew Barker
Bartholomew Barker is an organizer of Living Poetry, where he has hosted monthly workshops 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 the Pushcart Prize in 2021, 2024 & 2025 as well as the Best of the Net Anthology in 2024. His work has appeared in The Lake, Autumn Sky Poetry Daily, Panoply, Tipton Poetry Journal, the Gyroscope Review and the Naugatuck River Review among others.
Living Poetry 
Nation, Program, Thin
Really? Like, for real?
You want a poem with those three words in it?
Hell, it’d be easier to write about toilet bowl cleaners.
Or filling station pumps. Garden gnomes.
Long lines at Krogers …
(I don’t even know if there are any Krogers)
White Castles! Yea! But no … !
But my point is …
We’re not asked to write a poem
About the need eliminate poverty.
Or to ensure heath care – FOR ALL.
To feed the hungry. House the homeless.
Give every kid a fighting chance …
No, nothing worthwhile.
Nothing like that.
Nothing which gives this nation
Even a thin chance
At being the greatest in history
For putting its wealth where its mouth is …
For creating and supporting a program
To bring all this, and more, about.
No. No. None of that.
We’re supposed to write a poem
With the words nation, program, thin in it.
Geez! You’ve got to be kidding!
What a waste!
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Posted by Dennis or Donncha | February 20, 2023, 8:44 AMWell done. Thanks for turning the prompt into something worthy!
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Posted by Bartholomew Barker | February 20, 2023, 8:35 PMActually, thank you for appreciating it! That means a lot yo me.
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Posted by Dennis | February 20, 2023, 8:38 PMNation reduced
To bureaucracies program
Purpose paper thin
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Posted by joshuacushman89 | February 20, 2023, 9:15 AMShort, sweet, succinct. Nice!
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Posted by Donncha | February 20, 2023, 9:40 AMA lovely haiku!
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Posted by Bartholomew Barker | February 20, 2023, 8:35 PMThat’s quite interesting Nation, program, and thin
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Posted by ThaMF1 | February 20, 2023, 9:17 AM