Regular
readers will know that I include poems on a gay theme in general rather than
specifically gay poetry collections. All my books are divided into sections,
including a gay section, although in later years I have included more
gay-interest poems in other sections too.
Now and
then (straight) people get in touch to complain that they found a title of mine on their
local public library shelves and were shocked and/or disgusted to discover it
included gay material. All I can say is that they are not genuine poetry lovers
(as well as being bigots) because a poem is a poem is a poem, whatever its
theme.
Similarly,
of course, people are people are people, whatever their sexuality, which is
precisely the point I am making by not publishing my gay-interest poems
separately. Fortunately, my titles sell well (for poetry) and most readers seem
to enjoy the variety of gay and general poems, in various poetic forms, set out
in seven easy-to-read sections.
Oh, and on the
subject of approval and disapproval...
Yesterday,
I was delighted to spot two young men, plainly in love, walking hand in hand
down a street near where I live. Some people gave them funny looks but most
paid them scant if any attention at all. I thought, how nice, and how different
to when I was a young man more years ago than I care to remember! Hopefully, a
day will come when gay men and women can walk down any street in any part of
the world, hold hands and even pause for a kiss the way heterosexual couples do
(all the time) here in the West.
Those
countries whose leaders disapprove of and even persecute gay men and
women need to come into the 21st century. They won’t be able to hide
behind various misinterpretations of various Holy Books forever either. As for
those arrogant, puffed-up evangelical Christians, Jesus of Nazareth would be
ashamed of them. Jesus was a great advocate of humanity. As I have said before,
take the humanity out of any religion and all the prayer and ritual that’s left
becomes meaningless. [I may not be a religious person, but I was raised one and
know my Holy Bible; friends who follow various religions assure me there is
nothing homophobic in their Holy Literature although, rather like statistics,
words can be made to say anything that suits if you really put your mind to
it.]
After the
joy of being in love, the next best feeling in the world has to be letting
everyone know it, even (if not especially) those most likely to
disapprove. Disapproval, my mother used to say, is invariably a synonym
for jealousy. Whatever their sexual persuasion, people in love are
invariably happy. Some people just cannot bear to see other people happy if
only because it causes them to reflect on their own miserable existence.
G-A-Y, THE NEXT GENERATION
As we
walked down
my street
together, you held my hand;
people
flung us dirty looks,
because
they didn’t understand
about
falling in love
Outside
my front door,
you gave
me a big hug and kissed me;
passers-by
made rude noises
because
they didn’t have a clue
about
falling in love
As I
fumbled for my key,
you
shouted to the street how you felt
about me,
and neighbours
turned up
their noses at us because
it’s what
they do best
As I
closed the door after us,
children
playing hopscotch in the street
waved a
cheery ‘hello’
as if
warning us to take no notice
of their
stuffy parents
Once
inside, we ran upstairs,
laughingly,
carefree, still hand in hand,
shutting
out a world
that
didn’t want to understand
gay men
falling in love
Copyright
R. N. Taber 2011
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