This week let’s write a poem with the words detail, early and telephone 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, 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 
Great prompt Bartholomew! 📞
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Posted by Gypsie-Ami Offenbacher-Ferris | September 18, 2023, 8:42 AMA lovely homage to those old phones. Great work!
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Posted by Bartholomew Barker | September 18, 2023, 7:34 PMThank you Bartholomew! 😊
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Posted by Gypsie-Ami Offenbacher-Ferris | September 18, 2023, 9:47 PMWhen Walking Was a Bad Idea
Walking and talking on any phone
is something I never could do.
In the dinosaur days of dial phones,
I’d pace back and forth as I spoke.
By the time the call ended,
I forgot one small detail.
The coiled cord wrapped ‘round me,
and the phone followed me
out of the room.
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Posted by nolchafox | September 18, 2023, 10:45 AMHa! When I come across one of those kinky spiral phone cords, I’d spend (sometimes hours) trying to unkink them. Thanks for reminding me of that old tic.
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Posted by Bartholomew Barker | September 18, 2023, 7:36 PMI know exactly what you mean. Those silly coiled cords create obsessive compulsive disorder.
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Posted by nolchafox | September 18, 2023, 7:46 PMThe 📞
As early as the rooster cuck a doodle doos
So way back then it seems
Before legs could stretch
to touch the end of a bed
Before my body blossomed into me
When my grandma’s hair was more black than silver
We ran to the telephone
Stationed, upstairs on the wooden table just under the windows. All black, rotary dial.
Then it morphed into a tea cream with buttons and we got one for downstairs too.
All in these detail, these simple memories
Spawned by a Monday prompt that seemed so ordinary.
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Posted by DanielleM | September 18, 2023, 12:08 PMThanks for sharing, Danielle! It is strange how just a sequence of random words can dredge up so many memories. Great description of your youth, BTW.
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Posted by Bartholomew Barker | September 18, 2023, 7:38 PM😊 Thank you for the prompt ❤️
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Posted by DanielleM | September 22, 2023, 3:34 PMLikeLiked by 2 people
Posted by Bartholomew Barker | September 18, 2023, 8:55 PM