http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber
[Update (April 2016): Today’s poem was written in 2002, before the Civil Partnership Act (2004) was passed here in the UK. On 10 December 2013, Minister Maria Miller of The Department of Culture, Media and Sport announced that same sex marriage ceremonies would begin on 29 March 2014 in England and Wales.]
I always think of friends who had civil partnerships as married anyway, as do most gay people I know, but of course marriage introduces a religious element that may appeal to some. At the same time, legislation regarding gay marriage apparently allows any religious institution to refuse to conduct one if it so wishes, which smacks of tears all round to me.
Whatever, it was very refreshing to hear that two Pakistani women recently became the first Muslim lesbians to have a civil partnership here. Let’s wish them well and hope they will inspire other Muslim gay people, and those from other religions often inclined to take a homophobic point of view. May they enjoy many happy years together.
[Update (April 2016): Today’s poem was written in 2002, before the Civil Partnership Act (2004) was passed here in the UK. On 10 December 2013, Minister Maria Miller of The Department of Culture, Media and Sport announced that same sex marriage ceremonies would begin on 29 March 2014 in England and Wales.]
I always think of friends who had civil partnerships as married anyway, as do most gay people I know, but of course marriage introduces a religious element that may appeal to some. At the same time, legislation regarding gay marriage apparently allows any religious institution to refuse to conduct one if it so wishes, which smacks of tears all round to me.
Whatever, it was very refreshing to hear that two Pakistani women recently became the first Muslim lesbians to have a civil partnership here. Let’s wish them well and hope they will inspire other Muslim gay people, and those from other religions often inclined to take a homophobic point of view. May they enjoy many happy years together.
P-A-S-S-I-O-N, POEMS OF WAR AND PEACE
We’d quarrelled
and I wanted no truck
with you, wouldn’t
make it up with you;
I took the spare bed,
wondering what’s going on
in your head
other side of the wall,
were you even thinking of me
at all...?
At last I slept,
only to be woken roughly,
duvet torn off me,
merging mouths closing
in on eternity;
two pairs of eyes shining,
blood coursing
to the war cries of angels
fighting over our natural rights
to a blessing
If they won't marry us,
let 'em bury us...
Copyright R. N. Taber 2002
[Note: An earlier version of this poem appears under the title 'Fighting Talk' in First Person Plural by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books 2002.]
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