http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber
Sunday, June 28, marks the anniversary of the Stonewall riots in 1969, the event largely regarded as a catalyst for the LGBT movement for civil rights in the United States. The riots inspired LGBT people throughout the country to organise in support of gay rights, and within two years after the riots, gay rights groups had been started in nearly every major city in the United States.
Gay history has made us who we are. We, in turn, continue to make gay history with every positive step we take in its name. It is as much a part of gay people as the history of art, literature, music, sport...whatever it is that matters most to us in so far as we recognise it has helped shape the multiple facets of our identity for the good.
There will always be those bigots who love the sound of their own voices and will loudly insist that homosexuality is not a force for good. Oh, and bigotry is...?
This poem is a villanelle.
I AM STONEWALL, MAKING THE CASE FOR A COMMON HUMANITY
It’s no small part of me,
aches along with ageing bones
would set my spirit free
Even nature’s poetry
cannot gag its cries and groans;
it’s no small part of me
Alive to my sexuality
that an ages-old bigotry disowns,
would set my spirit free
Haunted by dark misery,
morality’s love for hurling stones;
it’s no small part of me
Yet, there is creativity,
uniting even the world’s religions,
would set my spirit free
An inspired spirituality
configuring a common humanity;
it’s no small part of me
would set my spirit free
Copyright R. N. Taber 2011
Sunday, June 28, marks the anniversary of the Stonewall riots in 1969, the event largely regarded as a catalyst for the LGBT movement for civil rights in the United States. The riots inspired LGBT people throughout the country to organise in support of gay rights, and within two years after the riots, gay rights groups had been started in nearly every major city in the United States.
Gay history has made us who we are. We, in turn, continue to make gay history with every positive step we take in its name. It is as much a part of gay people as the history of art, literature, music, sport...whatever it is that matters most to us in so far as we recognise it has helped shape the multiple facets of our identity for the good.
There will always be those bigots who love the sound of their own voices and will loudly insist that homosexuality is not a force for good. Oh, and bigotry is...?
This poem is a villanelle.
I AM STONEWALL, MAKING THE CASE FOR A COMMON HUMANITY
It’s no small part of me,
aches along with ageing bones
would set my spirit free
Even nature’s poetry
cannot gag its cries and groans;
it’s no small part of me
Alive to my sexuality
that an ages-old bigotry disowns,
would set my spirit free
Haunted by dark misery,
morality’s love for hurling stones;
it’s no small part of me
Yet, there is creativity,
uniting even the world’s religions,
would set my spirit free
An inspired spirituality
configuring a common humanity;
it’s no small part of me
would set my spirit free
Copyright R. N. Taber 2011
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