Spotlight On Writers
Bartholomew Barker
@bartbarkerpoet
- Where, do you hail from?
- What is the greatest thing about the place you call home?
I felt like all the adults knew who I was and instead of feeling monitored and oppressed by this, I felt safe, like I could talk to anyone if I needed help. I now realize this was more the result of my white male privilege and being a damn cute little boy didn’t hurt.
- What turns you on creatively?
The night sky. My grandfather gave me his three inch Newtonian reflector telescope when I was in third grade. There was practically no light pollution back there so seeing the milky way was no big deal and shooting stars were common place. I remember the first time I saw the Galilean moons of Jupiter and that Venus had phases just like our moon which people were still walking on back then. Find me on a clear night, if you want a guided tour of the sky. I know where the planets live and the homes of the stars. If we’re lucky I might even be able to show you a distant galaxy with your naked eyes.
- What is your favorite word, and can you use it in a poetic sentence?
“Tintinnabulation” and no, at least not as well as Poe did in The Bells:
“Keeping time, time, time, in a sort of Runic rhyme, to the tintinnabulation that so musically wells from the bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells.”
- What is your pet peeve?
When I’m in a poetry workshop and a fellow poet won’t make any suggestions on how I could improve my poem. None of us write perfect poetry and everyone’s opinion is good information even if I don’t take their suggestion. There’s only one poet per generation (see Emily Dickinson) who can write masterpieces in effective isolation. The rest of us have to work together.
- What defines Bartholomew Barker?
I am the Son of Ptolemy, the Tanner of Leather. I am the dead pixel on your screen that you mistake for a mote. I am the jerk when you’re tilting in a chair and begin to fall backwards but catch yourself at the last gasp.
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