Today’s
poem was written in 1994 and was inspired by a chance meeting with someone at a
gay bar in 1987 with whom I shared but a brief, intimate encounter, yet have stayed
friends ever since.
Gay relationships
were decriminalised here in the UK in 1967, but it wasn’t until the late 1990s
that attitudes began to soften towards us. I have to say that now I have that sinking again
as multiculturalism is slowly but surely turning the clock backwards. Regular
readers will know that I have nothing against multiculturalism in principle; on
the contrary, I would welcome it with open arms, but for the fact that so many people from various socio-cultural-religious
backgrounds have not only brought their native prejudices - including homophobia
- to the UK but also appear to be nurturing them; if it is a minority, it is a
very significant and increasingly vocal one. Thank goodness for an open
hearted, open minded majority, and long may it remain one.
Now, time
spent looking for close encounters of the intimate kind can sometimes result in
BIG disappointments. (Oh, and how!) Ah, but it only takes one unforgettable
moment on one unforgettable occasion with one unforgettable person to make up
for all of them...
CHANCE
MEETING
In a
smoky gloom,
I watched
you standing there,
idly running cruisy
fingers
through
hair kissed by stray sunshine
flickering
through shutters
set to
glower the world outside,
nursing
us on the inside
to a
comfortable anonymity,
and you
glanced at me
then
flung your eyes back into a pool
of
drowning men
shrieking so
if silently for rescue
despite dog-paddle gestures
defying their
distress like the rhythm
of a hit
pop song pulling at heart strings
repudiating our
loneliness
Gathering
up a casual air,
I spoke to
you, let the lilt of your voice
wash over
me like a friendly
shower after
a bad dream as we
talked
comfortably
while loud music
screened
all ghosts from us, inciting
a
temporary deliverance;
we went
outside into a gentler
conspiracy of
noon sounds
urging
us to hurry to a kinder place
where my
hands may freely frame
your
face, my lips on yours, your body
answering
mine, all threat receding,
this world as we'd always known it
(chasing votes if not hearts and minds)
turning
us inside out
Copyright R. N. Taber 1998; 2012
[Note:
This poem has been revised from an earlier version that last appeared on the
blog in 2010 and also in 1st eds. of Love and Human Remains by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2001; 2nd
ed. in preparation. NB 2nd eds. of my poetry collections will not be
available until after 2015 and will contain revisions of some poems. Meanwhile,
signed 1st eds. are available on request at a generous blogger
discount.]
0 comments:
Post a Comment