I try to keep the text brief and cryptic on these visual prompts so as not to influence my fellow poets too much but this Monday I want to note that it’s Banned Books Week and hope you’ll take up the theme of “Let Freedom Read”.
Artwork courtesy of the American Library Association, www.ala.org.
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.
A mockingbird is turning
purple trying to catch rye.
Huckleberry’s fence
caught Captain in his underpants,
without reasons why.
Lolita texts poor George
to meet the mice
at his beloved’s farm.
Verses at the slaughterhouse
complain they are off-color.
No animals, no men can ever
open books in public.
Did you keep
the writing on the wall
that kept you out
so all that was dead
in between the lines
could still be read
and courage placed
between the eyes
of dissension
such that even
censored, censured
captured, cured
books thrum with thought
Living Poetry 
What’s a Book to Do?
A mockingbird is turning
purple trying to catch rye.
Huckleberry’s fence
caught Captain in his underpants,
without reasons why.
Lolita texts poor George
to meet the mice
at his beloved’s farm.
Verses at the slaughterhouse
complain they are off-color.
No animals, no men can ever
open books in public.
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Posted by nolchafox | October 2, 2023, 8:15 AMBrilliant. Love all the references! (Didn’t realize Captain Underpants got banned.)
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Posted by Bartholomew Barker | October 2, 2023, 8:11 PMAccording to one website, it was!
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Posted by nolchafox | October 3, 2023, 6:31 AMBrilliant
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Posted by utopicdystopian | October 2, 2023, 8:46 PMThank you!
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Posted by nolchafox | October 3, 2023, 6:31 AMDear Hardcover/Paperbacks
Did you keep
the writing on the wall
that kept you out
so all that was dead
in between the lines
could still be read
and courage placed
between the eyes
of dissension
such that even
censored, censured
captured, cured
books thrum with thought
LikeLiked by 3 people
Posted by utopicdystopian | October 2, 2023, 9:43 AMLove those last three lines. Great sounds!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Posted by Bartholomew Barker | October 2, 2023, 8:12 PMThank you!!
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Posted by utopicdystopian | October 2, 2023, 8:46 PMLikeLiked by 4 people
Posted by Bartholomew Barker | October 2, 2023, 9:44 PM