http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber
Today’s
poem last appeared on the blog in 2010. As I have pointed out before, not
everyone has time to browse the archives so I hope those readers who recall it
will enjoy being reacquainted.
My mother loved poetry and often used to read me poems rather than stories. I loved them and recall them all, but the first gay-interest poem I read (by Thom Gunn) not only felt like an endorsement of that love, but also of my emerging sexuality; in 1959 when same-sex relationships were still a criminal offence in the UK.
I have always loved libraries and been an avid reader although less so these days as my eyes get tired. Mostly, it would be fiction or poetry with which I would engage with a schoolboy’s enthusiasm for discovery. In this way, I’d not only escape from the harsher realities of life, but also learn more about certain deeper, kinder truths that my compulsory ‘education’ (so-called) rarely if ever even hinted at.
I have always loved libraries and been an avid reader although less so these days as my eyes get tired. Mostly, it would be fiction or poetry with which I would engage with a schoolboy’s enthusiasm for discovery. In this way, I’d not only escape from the harsher realities of life, but also learn more about certain deeper, kinder truths that my compulsory ‘education’ (so-called) rarely if ever even hinted at.
Take
being gay, for example. I had been led to believe it was a perversion so,
realizing I am gay caused me to feel guilty for being a pervert. Books and
poems assured me otherwise.
I learned that sexuality is in the genes and perfectly natural although frowned upon by those with neither the sense nor sensibility to appreciate anything (or anyone) beyond their narrow conception of 'normality' (upon whose back, of course, a society's leaders in and teachers of its conventions so love to ride). Now, there was a time when such books and poems would invariably be found ‘under the counter’ at my local public library. Ah, but where there’s a will, there is usually a way for an enterprising schoolboy, and my first job after leaving school was in a public library…
I learned that sexuality is in the genes and perfectly natural although frowned upon by those with neither the sense nor sensibility to appreciate anything (or anyone) beyond their narrow conception of 'normality' (upon whose back, of course, a society's leaders in and teachers of its conventions so love to ride). Now, there was a time when such books and poems would invariably be found ‘under the counter’ at my local public library. Ah, but where there’s a will, there is usually a way for an enterprising schoolboy, and my first job after leaving school was in a public library…
MY WAY
I read a
poem about being gay
that came
back to haunt me
but in
the nicest possible way,
applauding
my sexuality ...
I wrote a
poem about being gay
that
needs no apology;
whatever
I do, whatever I say,
it always
speaks up for me ...
I shared
a poem about being gay
with
friends and family
who put
their misgivings away,
rose
above knee jerk hostility
My life
is a poem about being gay,
its words
a taste of honey;
whatever
I do, whatever I say,
it always
speaks up for me ...
Copyright
R. N. Taber 2008
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