http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber
I have always thought hunting with hounds is a sick sport. Maybe that’s because I have a tried and tested empathy with any animal on the run; having been the victim of homophobic attacks in the distant past, I know how it feels. Some of us would get away by the skin of our teeth, of course, as I (usually) did, but not everyone escapes uninjured (or worse) and the trauma may well haunt a person all their life.
In some parts of the world (countries like Uganda and Iran, for example, to name just two) gay people have to hide their sexuality, yet are often sniffed out by bigoted forces and don't live to tell the tale. It is a tragedy that shames the civilised world. Sadly, it is as all too common a tragedy for unprotected species in the animal world as for gay people living in an intrinsically homophobic environment...or anyone else seen as fair game by those who choose to interpret this or that socio-cultural-religious take on life as justification for the unjustifiable.
[Hunters] take unbelievable pleasure in the hideous blast of the hunting horn and baying of the hounds… Erasmus (1466 - 1536)
THE HUNT, METAPHOR FOR LGBT HISTORY
I hear a horn,
the baying of hounds,
thundering hooves,
need to run and hide
if only I can
Closing in on me,
horn, hounds, hooves;
scarier still,
a stench of humans
laughing
I need to pause
but the only rest for me
will last forever
once laughter catches
up with me
My legs fail,
drag me to a sanctuary
of friendly bushes
but the frothing pack
sniffs me out
The lead hound
pauses, poised to leap
for my throat,
now strikes, and all
I hear is laughter
Copyright R. N. Taber 2011
I have always thought hunting with hounds is a sick sport. Maybe that’s because I have a tried and tested empathy with any animal on the run; having been the victim of homophobic attacks in the distant past, I know how it feels. Some of us would get away by the skin of our teeth, of course, as I (usually) did, but not everyone escapes uninjured (or worse) and the trauma may well haunt a person all their life.
In some parts of the world (countries like Uganda and Iran, for example, to name just two) gay people have to hide their sexuality, yet are often sniffed out by bigoted forces and don't live to tell the tale. It is a tragedy that shames the civilised world. Sadly, it is as all too common a tragedy for unprotected species in the animal world as for gay people living in an intrinsically homophobic environment...or anyone else seen as fair game by those who choose to interpret this or that socio-cultural-religious take on life as justification for the unjustifiable.
[Hunters] take unbelievable pleasure in the hideous blast of the hunting horn and baying of the hounds… Erasmus (1466 - 1536)
THE HUNT, METAPHOR FOR LGBT HISTORY
I hear a horn,
the baying of hounds,
thundering hooves,
need to run and hide
if only I can
Closing in on me,
horn, hounds, hooves;
scarier still,
a stench of humans
laughing
I need to pause
but the only rest for me
will last forever
once laughter catches
up with me
My legs fail,
drag me to a sanctuary
of friendly bushes
but the frothing pack
sniffs me out
The lead hound
pauses, poised to leap
for my throat,
now strikes, and all
I hear is laughter
Copyright R. N. Taber 2011
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