Street Kisses, and Why Not?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

Heterosexual couples have kissed in public for years when meeting up or parting or even just on impulse (in the West, anyway) and no one bats an eyelid. Why should they be the only ones to enjoy the adrenaline rush?

Going public about romance…well, there’s no feeling like it! Let people mock, gossip or disparage gay couples kissing if they will. Most of them are just jealous because they have no one to kiss. 

Watching passers-by react to the sight of two gay men, obviously in love, kissing on a crowded street as they greeted one another once, was far more revealing about the darker side of human nature (and living in a multicultural society) than about the couple themselves. One telling comment I overheard was, 'Equality is all very well, but if you ask me, gays belong in the proverbial closet the way it use to be. Out of sight, out of mind...''

Yes, we have gay-friendly legislation in some parts of the world, but you can't legislate for bad attitude. July 27th 1967 homosexuality was decriminalised here in the UK. I have to say, it doesn't always feel like it...

This poem is a villanelle.

(Photo taken from the Internet)

STREET KISSES, AND WHY NOT?

Street kisses shared,

(far, far, sweeter than wine)

its home truths bared

Heart pounding, scared,

you lent your body to mine;

street kisses shared

For years we’d cared,

though the world draw a line

(its home truths bared)

Once we despaired,

most people quick to malign

street kisses shared

We hadn’t dared

give society the slightest sign

(its home truths bared)

Let them see we’re gay,

the love in our faces shine;

street kisses shared,

its home truths bared

Copyright R. N. Taber 2007; 2013

[Note: A slightly different version of this poem appears in 1st eds. of  Accomplices to Illusion by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2007; revised ed. in e-format in preparation.].