http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber
Today’s is a new poem that I tried out recently on two Dutch guys, Maarten and Daaf, at a gay bar. They liked it so I am posting it today especially for them.
It is not usual to read or talk about poetry in any bar, let alone a gay bar but we spent a very enjoyable couple of hours, first chatting about poetry (Maarten writes poetry too) and then they wanted to know what I thought about gay men adopting children. [The Netherlands has allowed same-sex couples to adopt since 2001.]
I have no problem with same sex couples adopting so long as they are not just trying to make a point and genuinely want to give a child a loving home. I think these two guys would be great parents, but would have reservations about some gay men adopting in the UK. Yes, it is legal now but I’m not sure attitudes in general towards gay men have progressed to the point where adoption is as acceptable as, for example, between straight or even lesbian couples. Parents must put the best interests of their children first and en some straight couples don't have the strength of character for that. some same sex couples have neither the
Sadly, the less enlightened heterosexual majority remains very wary if not downright hostile towards gay men. Any gay couple need to ask if it is fair on a child to subject him or her to the likelihood of verbal abuse (at the very least) from peers as he or she grows older. This said, it has to be better for a child to grow in up the atmosphere of a loving home than pass through the Care system. As for Maarten and Daaf, they plainly feel confident they can give a child not only love but also the self-confidence and self-esteem to cope with the kind of ignorance and bigotry that continues to haunt societies worldwide. I wish them well and any children they may adopt.
I have to say I have more admiration and respect for couples (gay or straight) who adopt rather than choose the donor insemination option. I don’t accept that it is every gay man or women’s ‘right’ to have a child any more than I accept that it is every heterosexual woman’s ‘right’ to have a child. We are as nature creates us. If we have a capacity for love, we should be willing to give that love where it is most needed. Since many gay men and women have no less a capacity for love than anyone else, I passionately hope that gay adoption (among men as well as women) will, in time, increase and become more acceptable here in the UK than it is now. In the meantime, while any suggestion that same-sex parents are more likely than a heterosexual couple to abuse a child is insensitive and offensive, it is one that needs to be more openly, sensitively and intelligently debated.
Meanwhile...
Yes, summer does seem a long way away. Ah, but there is always the memory of last summer or summer/s before that...to keep the winter chill at bay, not to mention looking forward with feisty anticipation (and a rampant imagination?) to summer 2011.
GOING ONE BETTER
He rose out of the sea and strode to the beach
like a hero from ancient myth,
bold and cocksure, plainly aware of admiring looks
for his physique and mystique,
this acolyte of Poseidon, fresh from the temple
He passed me where I sat, oozing a physicality
teasing my every muscle,
one glance fuelling a fiercer heat on me than a wink
from Apollo playing Peeping Tom
among fluffy clouds gathering to enjoy the circus
I could not resist but followed him to a sandcastle
whose turrets boasted flags
signalling a questionable welcome for the likes of me
to take up or dare betray myself
to the god now sprawled on a regal purple towel
I sat nearby and tried to adopt a Day Tourist role,
appear happy and relaxed
while my whole body, it wept the intensity of desire
probably mistaken for perspiration
by the heterosexual majority sunning themselves
I dared an occasional glance and he caught me out,
returning my shy smile
with a sea green gaze that penetrated my whole being,
read my mind as if it were
a sexy book cover left for others to drool and pass by
He ran his tongue along his lips, poked it out at me
then burst out laughing
and the sound, it cut me to the quick till I recognised
the timbre of passion
rising to the occasion, marking the gamut we’d run
Oh, and run it we did, through earth, water, fire and air,
two gay men going one better than any sexy book cover
Copyright R. N. Taber 2011
Today’s is a new poem that I tried out recently on two Dutch guys, Maarten and Daaf, at a gay bar. They liked it so I am posting it today especially for them.
It is not usual to read or talk about poetry in any bar, let alone a gay bar but we spent a very enjoyable couple of hours, first chatting about poetry (Maarten writes poetry too) and then they wanted to know what I thought about gay men adopting children. [The Netherlands has allowed same-sex couples to adopt since 2001.]
I have no problem with same sex couples adopting so long as they are not just trying to make a point and genuinely want to give a child a loving home. I think these two guys would be great parents, but would have reservations about some gay men adopting in the UK. Yes, it is legal now but I’m not sure attitudes in general towards gay men have progressed to the point where adoption is as acceptable as, for example, between straight or even lesbian couples. Parents must put the best interests of their children first and en some straight couples don't have the strength of character for that. some same sex couples have neither the
Sadly, the less enlightened heterosexual majority remains very wary if not downright hostile towards gay men. Any gay couple need to ask if it is fair on a child to subject him or her to the likelihood of verbal abuse (at the very least) from peers as he or she grows older. This said, it has to be better for a child to grow in up the atmosphere of a loving home than pass through the Care system. As for Maarten and Daaf, they plainly feel confident they can give a child not only love but also the self-confidence and self-esteem to cope with the kind of ignorance and bigotry that continues to haunt societies worldwide. I wish them well and any children they may adopt.
I have to say I have more admiration and respect for couples (gay or straight) who adopt rather than choose the donor insemination option. I don’t accept that it is every gay man or women’s ‘right’ to have a child any more than I accept that it is every heterosexual woman’s ‘right’ to have a child. We are as nature creates us. If we have a capacity for love, we should be willing to give that love where it is most needed. Since many gay men and women have no less a capacity for love than anyone else, I passionately hope that gay adoption (among men as well as women) will, in time, increase and become more acceptable here in the UK than it is now. In the meantime, while any suggestion that same-sex parents are more likely than a heterosexual couple to abuse a child is insensitive and offensive, it is one that needs to be more openly, sensitively and intelligently debated.
Meanwhile...
Yes, summer does seem a long way away. Ah, but there is always the memory of last summer or summer/s before that...to keep the winter chill at bay, not to mention looking forward with feisty anticipation (and a rampant imagination?) to summer 2011.
GOING ONE BETTER
He rose out of the sea and strode to the beach
like a hero from ancient myth,
bold and cocksure, plainly aware of admiring looks
for his physique and mystique,
this acolyte of Poseidon, fresh from the temple
He passed me where I sat, oozing a physicality
teasing my every muscle,
one glance fuelling a fiercer heat on me than a wink
from Apollo playing Peeping Tom
among fluffy clouds gathering to enjoy the circus
I could not resist but followed him to a sandcastle
whose turrets boasted flags
signalling a questionable welcome for the likes of me
to take up or dare betray myself
to the god now sprawled on a regal purple towel
I sat nearby and tried to adopt a Day Tourist role,
appear happy and relaxed
while my whole body, it wept the intensity of desire
probably mistaken for perspiration
by the heterosexual majority sunning themselves
I dared an occasional glance and he caught me out,
returning my shy smile
with a sea green gaze that penetrated my whole being,
read my mind as if it were
a sexy book cover left for others to drool and pass by
He ran his tongue along his lips, poked it out at me
then burst out laughing
and the sound, it cut me to the quick till I recognised
the timbre of passion
rising to the occasion, marking the gamut we’d run
Oh, and run it we did, through earth, water, fire and air,
two gay men going one better than any sexy book cover
Copyright R. N. Taber 2011
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