http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber
Here’s a new poem today, courtesy of a reader who got in touch to say he enjoys my general blog and asks ‘Why do you waste your time and talents writing gay rubbish?’
What can I say?
He is entitled to his point of view of course, but I felt compelled to make time to compose a new gay-interest poem. It may not be ‘great’ poetry, but a lot of readers enjoy identifying with poems that treat sexuality like any other theme, as natural and acceptable as love poems, nature poems, whatever. Is that not how we gay men and women deserve to be perceived by the heterosexual majority, natural and acceptable? Oh, but I wish! Sadly, we still have a way to go on that Front. Gay people continue have a tough time in some parts of the southern hemisphere. Neither should we in the West ever become complacent about a perceptibly rising tide of homophobia discreetly and less discreetly stage-managed by bigots from all walks of life.
LGBT, CANDIDATES FOR A BRAVE NEW WORLD
I walked into a bar
if for no obvious reason
than it was there;
I wasn’t even thirsty,
but felt the need to enjoy
convivial company
Immediately, my mind
tuned in to an atmosphere
of a different kind;
human shapes, voices,
seemed to have an affinity
with closet choices
Where I had restlessly
dogpaddled indifferent seas,
a strangeness took me;
anxiously, my body
soaked it all up, relishing
a quiet ecstasy
I looked around a while,
and sexuality caught my eye
with a winning smile;
I felt reassured,
a sense of belonging to this
brave new world
I ordered another beer,
was soon swivelling my hips
on the dance floor;
someone took the slack,
wrapped me in welcome arms,
no looking back
Copyright R. N. Taber 2011
Here’s a new poem today, courtesy of a reader who got in touch to say he enjoys my general blog and asks ‘Why do you waste your time and talents writing gay rubbish?’
What can I say?
He is entitled to his point of view of course, but I felt compelled to make time to compose a new gay-interest poem. It may not be ‘great’ poetry, but a lot of readers enjoy identifying with poems that treat sexuality like any other theme, as natural and acceptable as love poems, nature poems, whatever. Is that not how we gay men and women deserve to be perceived by the heterosexual majority, natural and acceptable? Oh, but I wish! Sadly, we still have a way to go on that Front. Gay people continue have a tough time in some parts of the southern hemisphere. Neither should we in the West ever become complacent about a perceptibly rising tide of homophobia discreetly and less discreetly stage-managed by bigots from all walks of life.
LGBT, CANDIDATES FOR A BRAVE NEW WORLD
I walked into a bar
if for no obvious reason
than it was there;
I wasn’t even thirsty,
but felt the need to enjoy
convivial company
Immediately, my mind
tuned in to an atmosphere
of a different kind;
human shapes, voices,
seemed to have an affinity
with closet choices
Where I had restlessly
dogpaddled indifferent seas,
a strangeness took me;
anxiously, my body
soaked it all up, relishing
a quiet ecstasy
I looked around a while,
and sexuality caught my eye
with a winning smile;
I felt reassured,
a sense of belonging to this
brave new world
I ordered another beer,
was soon swivelling my hips
on the dance floor;
someone took the slack,
wrapped me in welcome arms,
no looking back
Copyright R. N. Taber 2011
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