http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber
[Update) (August 26/2016): Sometimes I post photos with my poems and several readers have complained that I include photos of gay men kissing. One reader writes, ‘I am OK with gay people and quite enjoy many of your gay poems (I am not gay) but find photos of gay men kissing offensive.’ In other words, the reader has no problem with gay men so long as they are discreet and out of sight. Sorry, but this attitude makes me see red. Similarly, some religious leaders claim that it is OK to be gay so long as we don’t ‘do’ anything. Such attitudes are absurd in this day and age and very hypocritical (but not uncommon) among those who claim to be ‘OK’ with sexuality. What can I say other than, get real and grow up?
Now, whether or not this life is all we have, it is all we have as we know it so ... let's make the best of it, yeah? Even in countries where same sex relationships remain a criminal offence (to their shame) there is room in our private space for love in all it shapes and forms so let's not make LGBT relationships an exception ... and maybe, hopefully, there will come a time when they are acceptable everywhere. There will always be socio-cultural-religious bigots, of course, if only because the old saying is so true; you can please some of the people some of the time, but you can't please all the people all the time.
THIS LIFE
[Update) (August 26/2016): Sometimes I post photos with my poems and several readers have complained that I include photos of gay men kissing. One reader writes, ‘I am OK with gay people and quite enjoy many of your gay poems (I am not gay) but find photos of gay men kissing offensive.’ In other words, the reader has no problem with gay men so long as they are discreet and out of sight. Sorry, but this attitude makes me see red. Similarly, some religious leaders claim that it is OK to be gay so long as we don’t ‘do’ anything. Such attitudes are absurd in this day and age and very hypocritical (but not uncommon) among those who claim to be ‘OK’ with sexuality. What can I say other than, get real and grow up?
Now, whether or not this life is all we have, it is all we have as we know it so ... let's make the best of it, yeah? Even in countries where same sex relationships remain a criminal offence (to their shame) there is room in our private space for love in all it shapes and forms so let's not make LGBT relationships an exception ... and maybe, hopefully, there will come a time when they are acceptable everywhere. There will always be socio-cultural-religious bigots, of course, if only because the old saying is so true; you can please some of the people some of the time, but you can't please all the people all the time.
[Photo taken from the Internet]
THIS LIFE
That
first time you touched me, I found myself,
but it took your kiss to acknowledge it
That first
time we made love my heart took flight
to a
sunny heaven once as dark as night
That
first time we lay, spent, in each other’s arms
I heard
Pan’s flute, seduced by its charms
That
first time we quarrelled and resolved to part,
I experienced the sorrow of a broken heart
That
first time we spilled sexuality's loving cup,
we shared the sheer ecstasy of making up
That
first time we tested the world’s prejudices,
I felt so proud to be gay, and forever yours
Once lost, and no one quite understanding why.
now found, and embracing this life till I die
Copyright R. N. Taber 2007; 2018
Once lost, and no one quite understanding why.
now found, and embracing this life till I die
Copyright R. N. Taber 2007; 2018
[Note: An earlier version of this poem appears under the title 'That First Time' in Accomplices To Illusion by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2007]
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