All the world’s in pain.
The summers are stifling.
Wildfires roam the forests.
And this is just what we’ve done
to our climate. I try not to think
about what we do to each other.
So, let me bind your wounds.
Share this morsel of food.
Take a sip from my water bottle.
And take solace in the fact
that soft rains will come,
the fever will break,
and the Earth will be green once again.
Did a three-hour shift of poetry-on-demand in Raleigh this afternoon at a funky little clothing shop/bar. My poetry partner, Anna Weaver, and I wrote 18 poems, all told, and we did some pretty good work. Several Mother poems, a couple of cat poems and the more interesting random prompts from our customers. The poem above was written to the prompt “No Harm. Solace.” This is not exactly what I sold, it’s recreated from memory and improved (I hope) by taking longer than five minutes to compose and revise.
Bartholomew Barker, Poet 
The situation seems to have worked! Great poem expressing the duality of modern existence – the scale of global crisis contrasted with the intimate power of human kindness 🩷
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Thank you, Ange. Poetry on Demand is stressful but sometimes produces results.
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🙌
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One of the basics I try to live by. This poem is VERY GOOD.
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PS…I’ve posted it on Amnesty Orkney’s FB – and It’ll go in m’blog. Namaste.
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Thank you, BB! So glad you liked it and I appreciate the promotion of my poem.
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Admittedly, a bit of a ramble -but basically about the land and what we do to it…. https://theorkneynews.scot/2019/08/05/innocent-landscapes/ I’ll stop now!
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Interesting
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You’re in fine form and ready for next Saturday.
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Let’s just hope I don’t use up all my poetry over these last five days of April.
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Love this poem Bart 🤗
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Thank you, Maggie. So glad you liked it.
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love the hopeful ending!
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Thanks, Amanda! In the long term, there’s always hope.
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This poem is such an inspiration to an optimistic point of view. We have the means to do this – I just hope our species isn’t annulated before the Earth recovers from us.
On another topic, what a great activity, writing with a partner quickly for random customers. I’ve heard about that before. Is it hard to think of something that quickly or does the time constraint open you up to ideas on the fly?
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Poetry on Demand is a skill like any other. With a little experience you learn how to write to just about anything. (Having a little wine doesn’t hurt, either.) I encourage you (and all poets) to try it.
It’s also a great way to bring poetry to the general public.
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Although Poetry on Demand has elicited some good poems from me, my experience with it is sadly limited. Your post – and your poem – are creatively provocative. Thank you!
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You’re very welcome. I hope you get out there and write some poetry on demand soon.
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Nature will heak the world, no matter how long it takes. But there may be no humans left to see it in its newfound beauty when the destroyers are finally destroyed.
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Indeed. Our planet will do just fine without us. Until the sun turns into a red giant, of course.
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Bartholomew Barker様
私たち人類が自然界を破壊し、生き物まで巻き添えになっております。このところの気候は異常です。これもいずれか回復することを願いばかりでなりません 敬具
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Thank you. I totally agree. I’m sure the planet will be fine, eventually.
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私の拙いブログを見てくださり時間を費やして頂きましたことを大変恐縮です。これからも今後の成長を長い目で見て頂けれは幸いです。これからも何卒よろしくお願い致します。
敬具
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It was my pleasure. Keep up the good work.
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A beautifully written and emotional blog. The message of hope and kindness in a painful world is truly touching
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Thank you very much. Glad you liked it.
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I love the ending! My husband along with so many others are so afraid of what’s happening to our climate. Yet I rely on the hope that the Lord above has given me and I hold onto that. No matter what, in the end, I will be with my Savior, Jesus Christ! God bless you!
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Thank you. I hope we’ll get up and help ourselves.
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Love it
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Thanks!
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I so hope about the last line of the poem. I hope people make it greener again.
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I’m confident it’ll happen eventually, whether we’re involved or not.
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Great poem!
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Thanks!
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This brings me back to Marvin Gaye’s album What’s Happening. Profound and thought provoking
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Thank you very much, Connis. I’m honored it reminded you of the great Marvin Gaye’s work.
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Good
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Glad you approve.
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Do no harm. Well said
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Thanks. I never had to steal from the Hippocratic Oath before.
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Your right we are destroying our own planet
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The real question is: will we stop?
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I think no.
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Based on past performance, I must agree.
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True. With time everything is changing a lot. It seems like we have taken Nature for granted.
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Or we mistakenly believe we’re “above” nature.
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The real reason Atlas shrugged was while he’s trying to hold the celestial spheres up we humans keep farting in his face. We are a gassy bunch. We need to put all mankind on the Mediterranean diet and cut back on red meat all together. Park our gas guzzlers and put our toes in the sand.
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Hear! Hear!
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Me gustó mucho su poema porque habla la realidad de nuestro planeta, gracias por compartir tu opinión a tu manera
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Gracias!
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Hi vist my site
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If you had made a comment relevant to my poem, I’d have definitely visited your site.
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Ok
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This poem perfectly captures our Earth. Also, the last line having a tinge of hope really ties it all together. This was really nice! Thanks!
BBB
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Thank you, BBB! Glad you enjoyed it.
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I very much did. Thanks once again!
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So sad this is our and future generations the way of life
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Yeah, we’ve made a mess and now we have to sleep in it.
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Absolutely
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This is a powerful piece. I really like how it moves from heaviness into simple acts of kindness, ending on a note of quiet hope and renewal.
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Thanks! There may not be much we can do but we can do something.
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God bless us all , for what we have done to this wonderful planet
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I don’t think I’d have used the verb “bless”.
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Very true
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Be strong or be forgotten
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Strength is overrated. I think we need flexibility now.
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