http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber
Oh, the heterosexual majority may boast its share of the homophobic (yes, even in the 21st century!) but for every rotten apple on a tree there are always plenty more for us to enjoy ...except for those who hate apples, of course. As a close friend once commented, "There's nothing like being straight about being gay to provoke a response ... one way or another."
Some
readers may be interested to know that I posted a video and poems about the July
7th terrorist attacks on London in 2005 on my You Tube channel
yesterday. Not everyone can access You Tube
for various reasons so I will be posting both poems and video on my general
blog today:
Meanwhile...
A gay acquaintance
once expressed genuine shock-horror when I happened to say I have as many
straight as gay friends, and promptly accused me of ‘letting the side down.’
Bollocks!
Our sexuality
may be an integral part of our identity but should not be mistaken for the
whole. How can I ask people to accept me for who I am without any preconceived
ideas relating to my sexuality ...if I am not prepared to do the same?
BEING
GAY, BEING STRAIGHT or D-I-V-E-R-S-I-T-Y, SEEDS IN COMMON GROUND
When I
told a straight mate I’m gay,
he
shrugged and walked away;
I watched
him go, heart sinking, thinking
maybe
better I’d said nothing;
yet it
felt so good for having found a way
(the
words weren’t easy to say);
a sense
of breaking free left me on a high
but we
were mates and I’d lived a lie;
I could
scarcely imagine his hurt, his anger
at
discovering I was a stranger,
wished
I’d told him years ago. I’d tried...
Kept
losing my nerve and lied.
Being
straight with folks was easy after that
but I
missed seeing my old mate;
weeks
later, we met by chance at a local bar
ignored
each other for over an hour
before he
came over, slammed down a mug
and
lifted me up in a bear hug;
sometimes
he’ll even crack gay jokes when
in
company or on our own…
because
he feels so comfortable with me
(isn’t
that how it should be?)
laughs at
my jokes about ‘straights’ (fair’s fair);
we can ‘bat
for the other side’ and still care
Isn’t
that what mates are for?
Copyright
R. N. Taber 2007; 2010
[Note:
This poem had been slightly revised from the original posted on the blog in
2009 and in Accomplices
To Illusion by R. N. Taber,
Assembly Books, 2007.]
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