The "Long-Haired" Poetry of Bartholomew Barker
- Elizabeth Gracen
- 2 hours ago
- 6 min read
By Elizabeth Gracen:
The Flapper Press Poetry Café features the work of poets from around the globe. It is an honor to share their work and learn more about their lives, influences, and love of poetry.
This week, we are honored to feature the work of poet Bartholomew Barker.
Bartholomew Barker is one of the organizers of Living Poetry, a collection of poets and poetry lovers in the Triangle region of North Carolina. 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, he studied in Chicago and worked in Connecticut for nearly twenty years before moving to Hillsborough, where he makes money as a computer programmer to fund his poetry habit.
I reached out to Bartholomew to talk about his influences, the Living Poetry project, and his self-described "long-haired" poetry.
Please meet Bartholomew Barker!
Elizabeth Gracen: Bartholomew, thank you for taking the time to talk to us about your work. The poetry featured in this article is steeped in mystery. Like a tale well told, it leaves you wanting more, begging to hear those “long stories” you hint at in the descriptions. Please tell our readers a bit about yourself and how you discovered poetry as a means of self-expression.
Bartholomew Barker: I started by writing teenage angst poems. Fortunately, only one of my juvenalia survives and wasn't even particularly angsty. Then I would only bring out poetry in reaction to a break-up or divorce. Poetry is great at helping humans deal with trauma. And divorces are the only decent trauma I've got, having loving parents, a Beaver Cleaver childhood, and just simply being white, male, and straight in America.
EG: Your website (terrific btw) shows me that you use the site as a diary of sorts. I love that approach. It feels fresh and timely. Have you always approached your writing discipline this way? If you are comfortable telling me, share a bit about your process and how a poem comes to you.
BB: Thanks! I'm rather proud of my website. I try to post at least twice a week, including a haiku every Friday. And I never repost something I've previously posted. The closest I get to that is if one of my previously poems gets published in a journal. And I do believe that writing is a discipline, if you want to take it seriously. There's nothing wrong with pouring your emotions out on paper. It's a good thing to do. But if you want to be a "writer," you have to be able to write even when you're not inspired.
EG: Please tell me about Living Poetry and the poets and poetry lovers from the Triangle region of North Carolina.
BB: Living Poetry was founded almost twenty years ago. At first, it was just a monthly get together at a local coffee shop where folks would share both their poetry and their favorite classic poems. It soon achieved a critical mass and started offering feedback workshops and other poetry-related events as well as cross-posting the open mics run by other local groups.
The first poetry feedback workshop I ever attended was run by Living Poetry. When I joined up, we had a couple of monthly workshops and they were regularly full, so I volunteered to manage another, and I've been stuck doing it ever since. I should've known better than to volunteer, but over the years I've worked with a couple hundred different poets, helping them improve their poetry, and they've very much helped me improve mine.
Fast-forward to the pandemic, and we moved the workshop onto Zoom. At first, I planned on returning to the public library where we used to meet as soon as things opened back up, but we quickly discovered that doing the workshop online was much more convenient and opened us up to lots more poets, not just geographically but also to those who aren't comfortable driving at night or just aren't as mobile, so we've committed to remaining online. If I live long enough, we might even have a holographic workshop, like the Jedi Council in Star Wars, but that would mean I'd have to wear trousers again.
If any of your readers would like to work with me, they are more than welcome. They'll have to join the Living Poetry group on Meetup.com, and they can sign up there. We meet on the third Thursday of every month at 7 p.m. East Coast (USA) time.
EG: You’ve published several collections of your work over the years. How has your poetry changed or evolved over time?
BB: Stylistically, I cringe reading my older work. I did a lot of the things that I now counsel against doing in my workshops. For instance, first letter capitalization of every line.
In terms of subject, I'm probably not writing as much love/sex poetry as I used to, since those chemicals are fading in my brain, but that's probably for the best. Though I do miss the fire sometimes.
EG: Your work is quite wry and personal. Who are the poets, writers, artists, and musicians who have influenced your work?
BB: I enjoy reading Charles Bukowski, problematic as he is. I also love Tony Hoagland's work. (I actually wrote him a fan email, and he replied with appropriate obfuscation.) I also love how e. e. cummings played with our language. He's so much fun to read, even if it doesn't always make sense.
In terms of music, I tend to write while listening to classical or instrumental chill music. I can't listen to lyrics while I work, but when I'm driving I want to hear interesting words, so I enjoy the songs of John Lennon, David Bowie, and Roger Waters.
For the visual arts, I enjoy going to museums with my notebook and being inspired, much like Billy Collins in "Fishing on the Susquehanna in July." In fact, Living Poetry periodically assembles groups of poets for this sort of exercise. That's probably why I was so attracted your Ekphrastic Contest from a few years ago where we wrote to Alistair Little's work.
EG: Thank you for the interview. I’m wishing you good vibes for the coming year. Please tell our readers what you have in the works and where they can find it.
BB: Thank you very much, Elizabeth. Keep up the good work at Flapper Press.
Your readers should monitor the website www.bartbarkerpoet.com for my latest poetry and publications. I might be putting a book together this year, but I thought the same thing last year, and then life got a little too eventful. I'm thinking there must be something more to poetry than just printing books. Something more impactful. I feel like I'm getting close to an idea, then I see a squirrel nibbling on a stalk of broccoli from the compost.
Our Nocturne
Like Endymion, I worshipped
Selene— my perfect muse—
enticing yet unobtainable,
and then you landed.
Our time together—
brief as a shooting star—
concludes with this dance—
before morning carries us apart.
But we'll still see the same moon
so when she glows porcelain
in the evening sky, I'll remember
and blow you a kiss
to be delivered by the moonlight
caressing your cheek.
From the poet:
When I was young, there was this woman I met at a club. She was quite a skilled dancer. She moved away. It's a long story . . .
Unopened
The bottle celebrates
its first anniversary
in my fridge.
I purchased
it a week before
you said good-bye.
I'm stupid to keep
it but your name
is etched in the glass,
like that dinner
when we discussed
our dreams unfulfilled,
like that night
we chose to keep
our pants on,
like your husband,
there are some things
I'll never know.
From the poet:
When I was young, there was this woman I was attracted to, but she was married to some guy. It's a long story . . .
Woman in Red
She wears a dress as red
as the crimson dawn
as smooth as her song
She beckons me to her table
with a smile bright as a lighthouse
and a finger curled like a claw
Entranced I wash upon her shore
and would fear for my soul
if only I had one to lose
From the poet:
When I was young, I fought in the war, and then on my way home to see my wife, I was sailing past this island. It's a long story . . .
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