Impromptu Renaissance

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

Gays are losers,’ someone sneered at me only recently. Oh, yeah? So...was Handel a loser or Michelangelo or Shakespeare...to name but a few?

Did I mention Michelangelo? Yes, well, even the Vatican now openly acknowledges its debt to some of the greatest artists that ever lived, and were gay:

http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2015/jan/06/vatican-sexuality-themed-tours-gay-artists-michelangelo-da-vinci-caravaggio

Sexuality has to be in the genes or else how can we account for gay people world-wide ... and what is more natural than coming into the world as nature intended? Nor is it only sexuality but also how we develop into mature adults in which, there too, nature is bound to lend a hand.

As every wise parent knows... yes, you want the best for your children. But more often than not, the best way to show your love and keep them close is to let them go their own way and always be there for them.

As for any homophobes among the heterosexual majority, to them I say... grow up and get real.

Now, history plays host to many great men who were homosexual or bisexual. Do we hear the homophobes attacking them? A great man or woman or just an ordinary person in the street, our sexuality is sexuality is unimportant, except to them. It is no one else’s damn business. Besides, it is character that counts and that is where the homophobe is invariably found sadly wanting.

Never, but never underestimate the power of love, and never believe that is any less true for gay men and women worldwide.

IMPROMPTU RENAISSANCE

I battled against the snow one night
and winter would have seen me dead;
no star in sight or midwinter moon
finding a way through to be my guide

My legs refused even one step more,
my body collapsing in an untidy heap
on a white fur rug, marble surrounds
left clear, no doors or even a window

A splendid ceiling boasted frescoes
staying true to the Florentine painter
assigned to transform a mortuary
into a summer retreat fit for a pope

The faces looking down at me began
shouting then singing, their body parts
dancing wildly, bringing art to life,
resuming its place in the subject field

I heard an organ (or was it the wind?)
playing the Dead March as the revellers
vanished behind a sequined curtain
so I saw no finale, could only imagine

Suddenly, faintly, I heard a love song
growing louder, stronger, a match even
for Handel and the dead, hauling me
to my feet, defying surrender to winter

I battled with wind and snow yet again
and winter would have seen me dead
but you despatched the Spirit of Love
to find a way through and be my guide

That night we sat by a glowing hearth,
eating chestnuts roasted on red hot coals
where the arts of gay Greats of History
made their finer pleasures known to us

Copyright R. N. Taber 2010

Never Alone at Christmas

http://www.youtube.com/rogerNtaber

Christmas - like all religious festivals – is a time for coming together. Sadly, far too often it is also a time when divisions become more clearly marked than ever. Where family and friends do come together, those who are and/or made to feel excluded can feel terribly alone and isolated. Birthdays, anniversaries, special moments we long to share with family and friends, these are times when not being able to share them, for whatever reason, can make us feel physically sick with the intensity of exclusion.

It is not only gay people, of course, who are often made to feel excluded because they haven’t lived up to the expectations of others but made their own way in life. It is high time some people realised that, much as we may want the best for family and friends, we have no right to tell them how to live their lives; we should respect the decisions they make instead of harping on about how they could and should have done things differently. Nor is turning to socio-cultural-religious traditions any excuse for making people feel guilty about how they choose to live their lives...or rejecting them for it. [Multicultural societies will never work well until more of its leading lights get real and bring their followers into the 21st century.]

Let those of us who fare better, wish all those who are alone and unhappy a peaceful time over this period of Christmas, and always. Peace of mind may be elusive but it is there if we look hard enough; it involves keeping faith with ourselves as well as if not more than with each other. Gay, or straight, male or female, we all need to believe in ourselves and can but trust others will come to believe in us too, albeit it may take time for some to accept us for who and what we are.

Me? I’ve been on my own on Christmas Day for years now and love it. I can do exactly as I please, which usually includes over-eating (especially chocolates and other goodies I deny myself all year) as well as mulling very self-indulgently over Christmases past (some wonderful, some awful) and be glad that close friends will be around for (hopefully) years to come.

At the end of the day, there are always loved ones to keep us company, whether or not they are still with us. whenever we feel lonely or unhappy. for any reason; there is always much comfort to be found among our kinder ghosts.

This poem is a villanelle.

NEVER ALONE AT CHRISTMAS

Alone at Christmas, yet never alone
(memories flooding mind and heart)
among flowers of a peace full grown

For errors made, we can but atone
(join a common humanity for a start)
alone at Christmas, yet never alone

May the world look past a tombstone
(in whose design we played our part)
among flowers of a peace full grown

Recalling wise words written in stone
(keeps us close, though made to part)
alone at Christmas, yet never alone

Live by the Poetry of Kindness shown,
and to others, its words impart…
among flowers of a peace full grown

Though time, like a bird, quickly flown,
hear its love songs as swiftly return;
alone at Christmas, yet never alone...
among flowers of a peace full grown

Copyright R. N. Taber 2009; 2018

Duet OR In Every Tree, a Love Song

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

Today's poem last appeared on the blog in 2009 and is repeated today especially for readers ‘Guillaume and Jacques’ who will celebrate the second anniversary of their Civil Partnership (Pacte civil de solidarité) this week. You don’t say which day, folks, but congratulations. Puissiez-vous vivre heureux pour toujours et voici un gros câlin de Roger. [For those don’t know any French, that is, ‘May you live happy ever after and here’s a big hug from Roger’...at least, I hope it does as my French is a bit rusty!]

DUET or IN EVERY TREE, A LOVE SONG

There’s a tree in a field
that sings me a love song
every time I’m sitting
where it rises from the ground;
listen and you’ll hear
the lyric of a love song hanging
on a dream lost and found

By a tree in a field
we wrote our first love song,
bodies entwining
as we lay there on the ground,
sharing with the birds
such joy, such passion, hanging
on a dream lost and found

There’s a tree in a field
that watched us kiss and part,
not daring to believe
as we lay there on the ground
how gay love might
survive a world left but hanging
on dreams lost and found

To a tree in a field
we returned to write a love song,
bodies entwining
as we lay there on the ground,
sharing with the birds
such joy, such passion, a waking
dream lost and found


Copyright R. N. Taber 2008

G-A-Y, Opening Up to a Positive Thinking Mindset

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

[Update July 28th 2020]: It is nine years since I posted this poem on the blog, yet still there are LGBT folks around the world living infear of theirsexuality being 'exposed, made by blinkered societies and communities to live in that dark, lonely closet that was once my own personal space many years ago. True, we are winning hearts and minds in some parts of the world, but our hopes lie with our young people, many if not most of whom take others as they find them, and if they get along, it really doesn't matter whether or not sexuality comesinto the equation. Tragically, though, we still have a very long way to go before we are - all of us - accepted for who, not what we are; just as there is more than our sexuality to any LGBT person, so there is invariably more than meets the eye to each and every one of us, whatever our socio-cultural-religious or ethnic background, wherever in the world we may be.]

I am often accused of being too simplistic in my poems. Simple, yes, more often than not, but simplistic is a criticism I reject. [Well, I would, wouldn’t I?] I don’t want people to read a poem of mine only to scratch their heads, wondering what it’s all about. I said as much to a university lecturer once and he had a go at me for not having a ‘scholarly enough’ approach to poetry. Needless to say, I took it as a compliment.

Meanwhile, here’s a poem with a simple message; some words teach and some of us learn so that both can live on as part and parcel of a positive thinking mindset...

 G-A-Y, OPENING UP TO A POSITIVE THINKING MINDSET

There are two little words
it took me a while to learn to say,
put a smile on my face,
feel better about myself each day,
making my life good
in spite of some I knew who would
try to put me down,
come what may, for a little words
they hear with dismay,
but I’m not scared anymore to say
so they can take or leave
my love, friendship, all I have to give,
since one little word
showed me how to live and be free
of the secrets and pain
I’d weep over time and time again,
hating to sleep even,
for fear of waking up to a winter rain
even in summertime

Those two little words, needless to say
are, yes, "I'm gay ..."

Copyright R. N. Taber 2008

A Christmas Blessing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

People often make wrong assumptions about older folks. [I’m getting on a bit now and people seem surprised that I can use a computer!] I will never forget how, some years ago, an elderly couple in their 80's were very kind to me when I was the victim of a homophobic attack; they were devoutly religious and knew I was gay but all that mattered to them that I needed help.

The point of this poem has little or nothing to do with Christmas, and was inspired by a true story told me by a friend some years ago. These days, many people’s attitudes have changed…but not all. In some countries, even here in the West, there are gay men and women too frightened to be openly gay for all sorts of reasons. Yes, I know I have said this many times before. But as my late mother used to say, if a thing is worth saying, it’s always worth repeating.

Those of us whose family, friends, school friends and workmates help us feel relaxed about being ‘out’ should not be complacent or assume it is the same for everyone. It is probably hardest for gay boys and girls still at school. I well remember the torment of having to come to terms with being gay on top of all the usual teenage angst, and sometimes wonder how on earth I managed to survive to adulthood at all!

Some ignorant people will always try to give gay folks a hard time. For my own part, I always like to point out that’s their problem, not mine. [That usually shuts them up.]

Yes, tragically, homophobia is alive and kicking. So whatever happened to Peace on Earth and Goodwill to all humankind? Nor is it just Christmas but other religious festivals, too, that are found wanting. Religion may well be about faith, ritual and prayer. But what is all that really worth if it loses sight of its humanity?

A CHRISTMAS BLESSING

They said it didn’t matter I’m gay,
seemed glad for me when I found you,
accepted us as a couple, for who
and what we are - and we were happy;
days, months, passed and nothing
happened to spoil our idyll although
as autumn slipped into winter
we noticed a subtle change in people
as hearts and minds began to focus
on Christmas – or did I only imagine
they looked away? I knew better
but put my faith in love to win the day

Suddenly, it seemed everyone was asking
everyone else what they had in mind
for Christmas except us, no one meaning
to be unkind, of course, but assuming
'that sort' would not expect an invitation
to any family celebration

Whenever we would venture to suggest
this or that, all we’d hear was,
‘Oh, we’d love to have you, of course
but, sorry, a full house this year;
Besides, you know how some old people
feel about gays and we don’t want
to spoil grandma’s Christmas do we?’
(said most sincerely.) So we anticipated
a quiet, loving time, just the two of us
till, days before Christmas, a phone call
from your grandmother just to say
she was looking forward to seeing you

‘Oh, and your partner too, of course.
Sadly, it was all very different in my day;
few people then found the courage
to walk tall, heads high, and openly gay.
You are truly blessed, for what it's worth
(as much to us as Peace on Earth)

Copyright R. N. Taber 2005; 2010

[Note: An earlier version of this poem appears in Accomplices to Illusion by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2007.]

Once Upon A Wiccan Yule

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

One Christmas, a reader said he was disappointed that I was posting Christmas poems because 'everyone makes far too much of Christmas.' Ah, but my Christmas poems are more about the food for thought any religious festival gives us, and which applies all year round...or it should.

As for Santa, he may only visit once a year but I well recall a Wiccan man who made every day a time for celebration and thanksgiving for all life is rather than as we might wish it was...

Readers may or may not know that Wicca is a spiritual path originating in Britain that recognizes both a feminine and masculine element to the divine; it believes nature is sacred and should be protected. Apart from protecting the environment Wicca's central theme, called the 'Wiccan Rede' an abbreviation of which is commonly expressed as, 'If it does no harm, do your own will."

Stonehenge at the winter solstice (my birthday)

ONCE UPON A WICCAN YULE

At a time of Yule,

I well recall a Wiccan man
who showed me
how love can save the world
if anything can…
and although he would take me
to his bed
time and time again,
it would only
take a kiss, a hug even
or handshake
to help bring home a sense
of common humanity,
cause for celebration indeed
wherever the cap fits

Anything to dull
the pain I was feeling…
for those worse off
than us, excluded even
from Christmas,
whatever reason (or season)
culture, sexuality,
the darker side of memory
or simply separated
from friends and family,
no fault of their own
(unless but for being human)
since no time of year
can ever truly boast a monopoly
on loneliness

So let’s spare a thought
for the sick,
the lonely, and any cast out
for taking a direction
that doesn’t always follow
a convention;
in truth, the Wiccan man
showed me
it’s love can save the world
and its integrity
so long as its peoples respect
nature and each other,
through good times and bad,
regardless of colour, creed, sex
or sexuality

Copyright R. N. Taber 2007