Beauty and Strength, Defining (Gay) Pride OR Diversity, Nature Documentary

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

Regular readers will know that I do not subscribe to any religion. Even so, I hate to see gay men and women, boys and girls made to feel their sexuality and religion are mutually exclusive.

Socio-cultural-religious dogma has much to answer for and still has a long way to go before it can even begin to redress the wrongs and pain it has inflicted - and continues to inflict - on LGBT people worldwide.

Religions would have us believe in a God of peace and love. So why should sexuality matter to any God? And if it doesn’t matter to God, why should it matter to anyone professing to be a God-fearing person? Oh, and if sexuality does matter to a God who created all living things, how come the natural world is inclusively gay…?

I am reminded of a favourite quote: "It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength." - Maya Angelou

Incidentally, several readers have asked me to repeat the link to my favourite You Tube film about homosexuality in the natural world:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYdcvRe7ox8

This poem is a villanelle.

BEAUTY AND STRENGTH, DEFINING (GAY) PRIDE or DIVERSITY, NATURE DOCUMENTARY

Subject of a cloud movie one day;
the inner eye researching
all human history, inclusively gay

Apes in captivity, humans at play,
world shaping up, reshaping…
Subject of a cloud movie one day

True audience participation by way
of focusing on an all-embracing
all human history, inclusively gay

Signs of a storm well on the way,
as if the heavens protesting…
Subject of a cloud movie one day

A lark rising, its bitter-sweet lay
an ages-old theme, reworking
all human history, inclusively gay

Imprints on the heart sure to stay,
though a hard rain falling;
subject of a cloud movie one day,
all human history, inclusively gay

Copyright R. N. Taber 2008; 2018

No Giving Up on Happy-Ever-After

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

Today’s poem was written in 1998. It is autobiographical in so far as it is meant to convey something of a growing child’s passion for myths, legends and fairy stories; arguably, (since I was not conscious of being gay at the time) these prepared me for a world in which gay people might well be called upon to do battle with dragons breathing fire, but would emerge heroic, each in his and her own way.

Many people, of course, discover a sense of spirituality in religion; I found mine long ago...in nature.

By the way, the old-fashioned carnation name ‘pinks’ comes from the serrated flower edges, which look as if cut with pinking shears. The name of the colour pink is said to come from these perennials, which have been popular in gardens for hundreds of years. 

Is there such a place as Happy-Ever-After for any of us? Maybe, maybe not, but it will always be fun finding out; even impossible dreams have their moments, if not far more.

NO GIVING UP ON HAPPY-EVER-AFTER

Child in the garden

on a white horse,

charged with letting myth
run its course;

youth on the streets

every day declines
to say why no romance,
lets gossip run its course,

and... who cares?

Grown in the garden,

close to the earth,

looking to heaven for salvation

and rebirth;

tired eyes, all but closed

to humanity's faults,
for being stung by smoke 

from a bonfire of its vanities,
ashes left to smoulder

Come, ride a white horse

across the sky...

Higher! Nature and human nature
taking stock

of bold pinks blooming

in everyday gardens,

spelling out high hopes
for a kinder Earth, never giving up
on Happy-Ever-Afters

Copyright R. N. Taber 2001; 2016

[Note: An earlier version of this poem appears under the title 'An Affinity with Pinks' in Love and Human Remains by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2001.]

(Another) Crime Against Humanity OR G-A-Y, No Strangers to Hate Crime

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

The full horror of events in Orlando, Florida, in the early hours of one Sunday morning (June 12th, 2016) when a lone gunman opened fire in a gay nightclub, killing 49 people and injuring many others, some seriously, is only now starting to hit home among gay communities worldwide. 

If, as it would appear, the perpetrator was inspired by so-called Islamic State, it begs the question how many others are being similarly radicalised and groomed to commit other outrages just about anywhere in the world?

Gay or straight, we cannot be intimidated by the threat of terrorism even if, as many have discovered to their cost, it is no empty threat. All we can do is remain vigilant, report any suspicions to the appropriate authorities, and get on with our lives.

Yes, I have said much the same thing on other posts and in other poems, but as my mother (and my English teacher) used to say some 50+ years ago, if something is worth saying, it is always worth repeating. Moreover, I do try to vary how I express much the same thing in poems, blog posts, and everyday conversation. (If I fail, I can only agree that I must be one of the most boring people on the planet.)

Tragically, crimes against humanity are nothing new and have been repeated, in one form or another around the world, through the ages; more often than not, they are politically motivated. Rubens’ painting, ‘Massacre of the Innocents’ relates to Herod the Great’s ordering the killing of every male child in Bethlehem in a desperate attempt to kill baby Jesus whom he saw as a potential threat after a visit by the Magi; according to the Gospel of Matthew. [Photo copied from the Internet.]

This poem is a villanelle.

(ANOTHER) CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY or G-A-Y, NO STRANGERS TO HATE CRIME 

A sickness of the human condition,

spread by terrorist propaganda

strikes at the heart of civilisation

Gay folks, out and about, having fun,

ever trolled by social trauma,

a sickness of the human condition

In a Land of the Free, Constitution

promotes a gun-toting agenda,

strikes at the heart of civilisation

Many oppose tighter gun legislation

in the light of the War on Terror,

a sickness of the human condition

Few voice concerns for a generation

where a biased, foxy, media

strikes at the heart of civilisation

Wherever discrimination and division 

fuelling a socio-cultural burner,

a sickness of the human condition

strikes at the heart of civilisation

Copyright R. N. Taber, 2016

(London, June 14, 2016)

Head in the Clouds, Reading Aloud

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

As a closet gay teenager 50+ years ago when gay relationships were a criminal offence here in the UK, it was ironically a Church of England minister (who insisted gay people would go to hell) that helped me through what were very traumatic years. Whenever you feel lost, he would say, look to God in Heaven for directions.

I did not go looking for God as I was already disillusioned on that count, but I did find myself gazing up at the sky one day and saw cloud shapes resembling two men holding hands and smiling down at me. After that, I coped with my secret life far better and with far fewer doubt as to whether or not I really had lost my way.

Yes, of course, it was all in my imagination. Even so, the heavens seemed to be telling me something, and who was I, a potential poet no less, to turn a blind eye? 

As for God, whatever we understand by that, I saw God and nature as inseparable one from the other even in those long-ago days. Consequently, as my consciousness of who and what I am developed and began to leave self-consciousness behind, a sense of spirituality I take from nature rather than religion was less and less threatened by my being gay. 

Acknowledging and accepting that we are gay is a cue for LIFE not an excuse to pursue a charade meant to persuade the heterosexual majority we are 'normal'. Besides, if normal is as normal does, it doesn't say much for many among the heterosexual majority anyway. On the other hand, if trying to be a good person (open mind, open heart) is as being a good person does, neither colour, creed, sex nor sexuality matter as much; on the contrary, all can play an important part in shaping us for the better...if we but let them, and refuse to be held back by conventions and dogma that need to get real.

Gay or straight, the sky's the limit as far as human potential is concerned. As for being gay, why do gay-unfriendly heterosexuals make such a big deal of it. We all share the same earth and sky, and LGBT is no more or less than another template for life.  (Certain socio-cultural-religious groups, please note!)

This poem is a villanelle.

HEAD IN THE CLOUDS, READING ALOUD

I take my cue for life from the sky,

where the sun winks back at me

among clouds spelling out, G-A-Y

Too often, the world makes me sigh

with frustration, rage, anxiety;

I take my cue for life from the sky

Now and then, people make me cry

until I find an answer to bigotry

among clouds spelling out, G-A-Y

Often advised to let sleeping dogs lie

than let them wake up to reality,

I take my cue for life from the sky

Once, told to hide my true self and lie,

I found an anthology of sexuality

among clouds spelling out, G-A-Y

Walking tall and holding the head high

can test even sense and sensibility;

I take my cue for life from the sky,

among clouds spelling out, G-A-Y

Copyright R. N. Taber 2016

Double Take, Second Time Around

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

It is possible to be in denial of love, probably because we have an ideal in mind to which nothing and no one can ever (quite) live up.

It can take a while sometimes to understand that we don’t have to compromise on the ideal, just stop closing mind, body, and spirit to the possibility of loving someone and being loved in return…and trust love, affection, friendship ... whatever ... itself to do the rest.

You'll never know unless you try... and where any attraction is mutual, it's worth every heartbeat to explore any potential. 

DOUBLE TAKE, SECOND TIME AROUND

He only wanted my body,

nothing else from me, no half share

in dreams and aspiration,

didn’t care a jot for my opinions

about politics and religion

messing us all about while pretending

to toe some party line

towards some supposed ‘greater good’

sure to be haunting us all

He only wanted my body

and since the attraction was mutual

I was okay with that,

and it made a pleasant change to skip

dull small talk, exchanges

of autobiographical anecdotes if only

to set the scene,

but strip off unselfconsciously, enjoy sex

for its own sake, no strings

I only wanted  his body,

weary of guys with domestic agendas

like wanting to settle down

and play out a happy-ever-after fantasy

in an affordable house

with adorable children courtesy of laws

permitting gay couples

to marry, adopt, even live ordinary lives

among ordinary people

I only wanted his body,

not in the least attracted to some nebulous

social stratosphere

dominated by a heterosexual majority

that sees gay couples

as a tolerably minority, here to stay

only as reiterating

some politically correct code of ethics

half the world won’t endorse

We only wanted sex,

no ulterior motive such as falling in love,

wanting the spend

the rest of our lives together, give sceptics

a run for their money,

share bad times as well as good, survive

not only to tell the tale,

but go one better, be stronger than ever

just for staying together

We only wanted sex,

from the first moment we saw each other

across a crowded bar,

going back to his place later, certain only

about being intimate,

no letting mind and spirit into the equation

but for being feisty,

living the moment as if it might well be

we’d never see its like again

That was the idea, until we hit

on a plan B in the first, cold, light of dawn,

wrapped around each other,

loath to part company despite a tsunami

of doubts and reservations

that (eventually) we saw off with a kiss

which lasted long enough

to help us understand about love on a roll

this, our second time around

Copyright R. N. Taber 2016

G-A-Y, Turning Tables

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

I once met a guy in a gay bar who told me he was not openly gay and asked how I ‘deal’ with my sexuality in the ‘real’ world. I told him how I used to think I had to ‘deal’ with it because, well, because… until I saw that the only ‘because’ was of my own making and I would never be free to be myself until I let it go and drown itself along with all the other excuses many if not most of us - gay or straight - so love making for not doing something.

"But people…" he began. I stopped him in his tracks and pointed out that ‘people’ are different; good and bad, wise and bigoted, open-hearted and closed-minded. Life is about seeking out and siding with the best, and taking the worst in our stride.

Now, it may well be true that most truisms are trite if not sweeping statements, but many make a point worth pondering upon. For example, ‘Laugh and the world laughs with you has to be a better cue for living than having it laugh at you…surely?

 G-A-Y, TURNING TABLES

Years ago, people made me cry

for telling me I well deserved to die

and they would not give me the time of day

just because I’m gay

Years ago I kept myself to myself

like an unwanted toy on a dusty shelf

rarely coming out, felt obliged to hide away

just because I’m gay

Years ago, I hid my sexuality

from a prying heterosexual majority

until a day I paused long enough to ask why

I should live a lie…?

I came out to the world at last,

facing up to and overriding my past,

sided with satire to confuse any would-be foe

let that tell them where to go

Once, I cracked jokes in a bar,

everyone laughed, shouted for more,

till a lone voice mocked my sexual persuasion,

only to be shouted down

Years ago, I was a fool to myself

gathering dust on a toymaker’s shelf;

fortunately (eventually) I got a life, and had fun

laughing the bigots down

Copyright R. N. Taber 2016