http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber
Reading old poems is rather like reading through a diary. I recall the inspiration for a poem as if it were yesterday. In the case of today’s poem, I had exchanged meaningful glances with a guy on the London Underground on my way home from work. Sadly, that was all we ever did.
Yesterday, on the way home on the Northern Line from Waterloo after a delightful day out with a friend, I experienced a sense of déjà vu…
As soon as I got home, I looked up this poem and found myself wishing I’d had the same self-confidence then that I have now.
Alas, wrong time, wrong train, wrong age…BUT…more exciting events and the closing ceremony for a fantastic and truly inspiring Paralympics to look forward to tonight.
Well done team Para GB! I suspect you have changed forever (and so much for the better) the perceptions of many people with regard to those among us with various disabilities.
Oh, and let’s be sure to include disabled gay men and women, too, in all sections of society. There is more to all of us than our gender, sexuality, rece, religion ... whatever. What you see is rarely what you get; too many people are so quick to make assumptions that they never get to see us for all we really are.
As for anyone (whatever their sex or sexuality) exchanging wishful eye contact with a potential kindred spirit on life’s journey - GO for it. (Nothing ventured, nothing gained, and everything to play for.)
TALKING HEADS
One finger brushes my hand
as if wanting me to understand
all your eyes long to convey
though you don’t dare look up
from a page of your book
as your lips can’t even half shape
what they may or may not say
because you’ve not yet learned
the words for feelings gay
I dare let my leg press yours,
and feel scalding tremors pulse
through our bodies
like a series of electric shocks,
yet you will not look up at me,
keep licking your lips nervously,
feverishly swallowing the taste
of me, coming to terms (finally)
with an enduring curiosity
I freely let my gaze caress
your face, on sensual mouth place
a gentle kiss, full lips parting
to let my tongue explore, not reading
any more (if you ever were).
While heads, noses, ears, rush us
from all sides like attitudes,
you’re fiddling with a shirt button,
it’s a lifeline...
Come together if only briefly,
you and me against the Hydra
Copyright R. N. Taber 2002; 2012
[Note: This poem has been slightly revised from the original version as it appears in First Person Plural by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2002.]
Reading old poems is rather like reading through a diary. I recall the inspiration for a poem as if it were yesterday. In the case of today’s poem, I had exchanged meaningful glances with a guy on the London Underground on my way home from work. Sadly, that was all we ever did.
Yesterday, on the way home on the Northern Line from Waterloo after a delightful day out with a friend, I experienced a sense of déjà vu…
As soon as I got home, I looked up this poem and found myself wishing I’d had the same self-confidence then that I have now.
Alas, wrong time, wrong train, wrong age…BUT…more exciting events and the closing ceremony for a fantastic and truly inspiring Paralympics to look forward to tonight.
Well done team Para GB! I suspect you have changed forever (and so much for the better) the perceptions of many people with regard to those among us with various disabilities.
Oh, and let’s be sure to include disabled gay men and women, too, in all sections of society. There is more to all of us than our gender, sexuality, rece, religion ... whatever. What you see is rarely what you get; too many people are so quick to make assumptions that they never get to see us for all we really are.
As for anyone (whatever their sex or sexuality) exchanging wishful eye contact with a potential kindred spirit on life’s journey - GO for it. (Nothing ventured, nothing gained, and everything to play for.)
TALKING HEADS
One finger brushes my hand
as if wanting me to understand
all your eyes long to convey
though you don’t dare look up
from a page of your book
as your lips can’t even half shape
what they may or may not say
because you’ve not yet learned
the words for feelings gay
I dare let my leg press yours,
and feel scalding tremors pulse
through our bodies
like a series of electric shocks,
yet you will not look up at me,
keep licking your lips nervously,
feverishly swallowing the taste
of me, coming to terms (finally)
with an enduring curiosity
I freely let my gaze caress
your face, on sensual mouth place
a gentle kiss, full lips parting
to let my tongue explore, not reading
any more (if you ever were).
While heads, noses, ears, rush us
from all sides like attitudes,
you’re fiddling with a shirt button,
it’s a lifeline...
Come together if only briefly,
you and me against the Hydra
Copyright R. N. Taber 2002; 2012
[Note: This poem has been slightly revised from the original version as it appears in First Person Plural by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2002.]
No comments:
Post a Comment