http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber
Now, today’s poem proved popular with readers when I posted it here in 2010 so I have included it in my new collection, Tracking the Torchbearer. Mind you, someone did contact me to say ‘there is nothing heroic about being gay, it is sick.’ [If he had understood the poem, he would realise I am not saying that anyway.] That person is of course entitled to his opinion. many of my poems, though, are inclined to suggest there are few things sicker than trying to make a virtue of ignorance. I do not use social media, but he is welcome to contact me at rogertab@aol.co.uk if he cares to give me the right of reply.
[Update, June 8th 2019: Well
I am still here after three more years of hormone therapy driving me up the
proverbial wall. Only, now I have arthritis to deal with as well, in my left
foot where I fractured the ankle after a bad fall in 2011 and also in my neck.
I manage both okay(ish) but it ain't easy as the hormone therapy not only makes
me want to pee umpeen times day and night but also affects my memory and,
latterly, my whole personality in the sense that I make mountains out of
molehills where I used to things in my stride. The blogs help. As well as
enjoying the company of readers from 65+ different countries, writing them acts
as a form of creative therapy that encourages my old self to stay alive and
kicking. I did get upset when a reader contacted me to say he had seen my
gay-interest blog called 'sick' (again) on social media, but not for long; it takes all
sorts to make a world, warts 'n' all. Being gay is as much a part of me as
being human while being human makes me as free a spirit as anyone which,
in my case, also makes me a poet with a responsibility, as I see it, to draw on
nature and human nature in all its shapes and forms. I
rest my case...]
Now, today’s poem proved popular with readers when I posted it here in 2010 so I have included it in my new collection, Tracking the Torchbearer. Mind you, someone did contact me to say ‘there is nothing heroic about being gay, it is sick.’ [If he had understood the poem, he would realise I am not saying that anyway.] That person is of course entitled to his opinion. many of my poems, though, are inclined to suggest there are few things sicker than trying to make a virtue of ignorance. I do not use social media, but he is welcome to contact me at rogertab@aol.co.uk if he cares to give me the right of reply.
Oh, but what we gay men and women
owe the Ancient Greeks, especially perhaps we arty-farty types!
Me, I’ve always been fascinated by
tales of Ancient Greece, convinced since a teenager that I was born in the
wrong place and the wrong century ...
A CONTEMPORARY TAKE ON GREEK
GODS AND EVERYDAY HEROES
Like a Greek god risen from the
sea,
naked but for trunks coloured red,
he demanded I accept my sexuality
He prised loose my grip on
‘morality’
to embrace erotic icons in my head,
like a Greek god risen from the
sea,
Fighting nature’s cause
magnificently,
crossing the sand, not a word said,
he demanded I accept my sexuality
His beauty set a fever raging in me
(where sex on desire hungrily fed)
like a Greek god risen from the sea
Content to let Apollo dry his fine
body,
sprawled close by on a towel bed,
he demanded I accept my sexuality
The full lips parted, oh, so
invitingly
as he left, knowing I followed…
Risen like a Greek god from the
sea,
he demanded I accept my sexuality
Copyright R. N. Taber 2010, 2012
[Note: This poem first appears under the title 'A Twenty-first Century take on Greek Gods and Everyday Heroes' in Tracking the Torchbearer by R. N. Taber, Assembly
Books, 2012]
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