I dream of harsh lights
like a hospital
and I’m paralyzed

I’m so happy
I can’t move
I can’t write
I can’t do anything
more for this gone mad world
no more marches
no more speeches
no more sacrifice
I can finally relax
stop breathing
enjoy the final silence

but a door slams
I jerk awake
scowl at the bright window
and trudge back
to the struggle

Bartholomew Barker is one of the organizers of Living Poetry, a collection of poets and poetry readers 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.

Born and raised in Ohio, studied in Chicago, he worked in Connecticut for nearly twenty years before moving to Hillsborough where he makes money as a computer programmer to fund his poetry habit. You can read more of his writing at Bartholomew Barker, Poet