I once met a guy in a gay bar who told me he was not
openly gay and asked how I ‘deal’ with my sexuality in the ‘real’ world. I told
him how I used to think I had to
‘deal’ with it because, well, because… until I saw that the only ‘because’ was
of my own making and I would never be free to be myself until I let it go and
drown itself along with all the other excuses many if not most of us - gay or
straight - so love making for not doing something.
"But people…" he began. I stopped him in his tracks
and pointed out that ‘people’ are different; good and bad, wise and bigoted,
open-hearted and closed-minded. Life is about seeking out and siding with the
best, and taking the worst in our stride.
Now, it may well be true that most truisms are trite
if not sweeping statements, but many make a point worth pondering upon. For
example, ‘Laugh and the world laughs with
you has to be a better cue for living than having it laugh at you…surely?
G-A-Y, TURNING TABLES
Years
ago, people made me cry
for
telling me I well deserved to die
and
they would not give me the time of day
just
because I’m gay
Years
ago I kept myself to myself
like
an unwanted toy on a dusty shelf
rarely
coming out, felt obliged to hide away
just
because I’m gay
Years
ago, I hid my sexuality
from
a prying heterosexual majority
until
a day I paused long enough to ask why
I
should live a lie…?
I
came out to the world at last,
facing
up to and overriding my past,
sided
with satire to confuse any would-be foe
let
that tell them where to go
Once,
I cracked jokes in a bar,
everyone
laughed, shouted for more,
till
a lone voice mocked my sexual persuasion,
only
to be shouted down
Years
ago, I was a fool to myself
gathering
dust on a toymaker’s shelf;
fortunately
(eventually) I got a life, and had fun
laughing
the bigots down
Copyright R. N.
Taber 2016
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