This week let’s write a stubborn poem. It can be about someone who is stubborn or a stubborn situation or one of those poems that just refuses to be written. Whichever you choose, don’t be difficult. just post the results in the comments below.
(Note: use of the word “mule” is prohibited in this prompt. You can do better.)
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 
Here’s a little sur of the moment piece in answer to this prompt. I call it Mewling
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Posted by Violet Lentz | March 10, 2025, 10:31 AMLovely work. Thanks for sharing, Violet!
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Posted by Bartholomew Barker | March 10, 2025, 8:49 PMPerseverance
Tell me I’m a bird that flies
against a gale-force wind,
a flowing stream that
takes its time to wear
the boulders smooth.
Tell me that I won’t give up,
that I will persevere.
I will smile, I know that I’m
just plain old stupid stubborn.
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Posted by crazy4yarn2 | March 10, 2025, 1:07 PMThanks for sharing this old poem, Nolcha.
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Posted by Bartholomew Barker | March 10, 2025, 8:51 PMstubborn as a mule
now
that makes sense
a pain in the ass
that makes no sense
all arse about
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Posted by Rall | March 10, 2025, 1:44 PMSorry, Rall, but I must disqualify your response for not following the restriction to not use the M-word. Have another go at it!
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Posted by Bartholomew Barker | March 10, 2025, 8:53 PMhope you’re not like that grump trump
and cast me off with a great big thump
i wont grovel about and kiss your arse
aussies are no good at that kind of farce
you are our chief ally but for how long
when mr. weird psycho president
drops a bomb
so don’t be stubborn as a mule
think about moving to the wide
brown land without rules
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Posted by Rall | March 11, 2025, 8:08 AMHa! Okay then. I was hoping a new idiom would be created but we’ll stick with the cliche.
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Posted by Bartholomew Barker | March 11, 2025, 7:30 PMButting Heads
Named for his father, who was
known by his nickname, Junior
went by a middle name
until college when he claimed
his full name, earned three
degrees with that proud name.
He and his dad butted heads
over damn near every issue
during the past twenty years,
both, too bullheaded to give in.
Junior is still sore about being
required to chore during
his adolescence. His newly
minted PhD in communication
does little to lessen the bile
he cultured as he grew up.
Senior died this week losing
a valiant battle (not a fistfight
or a skirmish), truly a battle
with the evil Lord Cancer.
With no paternal head to butt
Junior will have only his
own demons to conquer.
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Posted by llzranch | March 13, 2025, 3:54 PMA lovely tribute to a fractious father-son relationship. And, if this one is more true than poetic license, my condolences.
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Posted by Bartholomew Barker | March 13, 2025, 7:38 PM