Bartholomew Barker

I can imagine how it feels
to cross a border for a better future and not do the paperwork
to get pregnant and not want to have a baby
to live in a body not carrying the right gender

I can imagine how it feels
to be vilified — to be hunted
to be afraid of every stranger
and some friends

But I’m a straight white man in America
I can’t truly understand it in my gut
but I can sympathize

So why then can’t I imagine
what caused so many of my fellows
to vote the way they did?

Bartholomew Barker works with Living Poetry. He has published a full-length collection, a chapbook, and been nominated for a Pushcart and the Best of the Net. His work has recently appeared in Autumn Sky Poetry Daily, Panoply, Tipton Poetry Journal, Gyroscope Review and the Naugatuck River Review among others. bartbarkerpoet.com

This poem appeared in Record of Dissent: Poems of Protest in an Authoritarian Age — Summer 2025, published by The Chaos Section Poetry Project. We’ll be featuring each poem from the collection individually in the weeks ahead. You can read the full collection or download a free PDF of the chapbook here.