https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber
[Update: July 8th 2018]: A few years on, and I will be 73 this year...still looking on the bright side of life, and no regrets about coming out as a gay man years ago - to everyone, not just a select few. I only wish there had been a sufficiently gay-friendly climate in both family and society which would have encouraged me to do so much sooner.]
I said on a recent post that I may not be able to continue posting daily to my blogs. This was due to computer problems; a virus attacked all my Word files and my anti-virus protection proved useless. A friend has lent me a spare pc and I have ordered a laptop...so hopefully I can just blog on...
Now, I wrote this poem in 1971. I was a full-time student when I wrote the poem and had just finished reading several novels by Jean Genet (in translation). Love or hate this French existentialist…there is no ignoring him! In 1996, I took the title for a small selection of gay-interest poems published by Aramby Publications (Wire poetry booklets series No. 12) before including it in my first major collection.
The poem first appeared on the blog in May 2009. A short, simple poem, it is nevertheless one of my favourite poems among all those I have written. Moreover, I appear to have picked up a significant number of new readers this year which is why I am posting poems that appeared some time ago as not everyone will have had time to explore the archives. I can but hope regular readers will bear with me and enjoy re-reading some poems. Oh, and yes, I do know it is November, not August. I may be in my mid-60s now but I've still got a few marbles left...hehe [Tomorrow, two poems for Remembrance Sunday.]
AUGUST AND GENET
Bright eyes
follow black waves
of handsome hair
Sweaty hands
delight in outrageous
denial
Ah, beauty rare,
beauty dear, shines there,
shines here,
like torchlight
on a thief
A pain grips
troubled loins, makes
breathing hard
Black waves
will smother a man
if he lets ‘em
Copyright R. N. Taber 1996; 2000
[Note: This poem first appeared in August and Genet (Wire Poetry Booklet series, 12) Aramby Publications, 1996 and subsequently in my first collection, Love And Human Remains, Assembly Books, 2000.]
[Update: July 8th 2018]: A few years on, and I will be 73 this year...still looking on the bright side of life, and no regrets about coming out as a gay man years ago - to everyone, not just a select few. I only wish there had been a sufficiently gay-friendly climate in both family and society which would have encouraged me to do so much sooner.]
I said on a recent post that I may not be able to continue posting daily to my blogs. This was due to computer problems; a virus attacked all my Word files and my anti-virus protection proved useless. A friend has lent me a spare pc and I have ordered a laptop...so hopefully I can just blog on...
Now, I wrote this poem in 1971. I was a full-time student when I wrote the poem and had just finished reading several novels by Jean Genet (in translation). Love or hate this French existentialist…there is no ignoring him! In 1996, I took the title for a small selection of gay-interest poems published by Aramby Publications (Wire poetry booklets series No. 12) before including it in my first major collection.
The poem first appeared on the blog in May 2009. A short, simple poem, it is nevertheless one of my favourite poems among all those I have written. Moreover, I appear to have picked up a significant number of new readers this year which is why I am posting poems that appeared some time ago as not everyone will have had time to explore the archives. I can but hope regular readers will bear with me and enjoy re-reading some poems. Oh, and yes, I do know it is November, not August. I may be in my mid-60s now but I've still got a few marbles left...hehe [Tomorrow, two poems for Remembrance Sunday.]
AUGUST AND GENET
Bright eyes
follow black waves
of handsome hair
Sweaty hands
delight in outrageous
denial
Ah, beauty rare,
beauty dear, shines there,
shines here,
like torchlight
on a thief
A pain grips
troubled loins, makes
breathing hard
Black waves
will smother a man
if he lets ‘em
Copyright R. N. Taber 1996; 2000
[Note: This poem first appeared in August and Genet (Wire Poetry Booklet series, 12) Aramby Publications, 1996 and subsequently in my first collection, Love And Human Remains, Assembly Books, 2000.]
No comments:
Post a Comment