You-Me-Us Revisited

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

Regular readers will know that, while I do not subscribe to any religion, but choose to believe in Earth Mother, I have no problem as such with any religion, providing that it demonstrates humanitarian principles towards Man and Beast.

In the course of my 74 years, I have asked more than one cleric of more than one faith what their religion has against gay people. Do they really believe, I ask, that any God advocating peace and love could possibly be homophobic?

Christians invariably quote Leviticus, regardless of the fact that it is Old Testament and the New Testament all but makes that redundant. The God of whom Jesus of Nazareth preaches is a God of love, a far cry from the vengeful figure of the Old Testament invoking more fear than love. Sadly, the former message seems to linger on around the world. Many a cleric I have spoken to has been inclined to use God as a threat; i.e. Believe or go to Hell.

I once put it to a cleric that no LGBT person should not feel alienated from any religious path in spite of the likes of a certain Archbishop of Canterbury saying he has no problem with gay people, even gay clergy, so long as they do not practise sex. (For my part, I suggest that is tantamount to saying you can lead a horse to water so long as you don’t let it drink.) 

"How can you be sure,” I insisted, “…that God is not too well disposed towards LGBT people?"

“Ah, but of what can any of us be sure,” the cleric responded obliquely, “… but better to err on the side of caution, surely?”

 I am reminded of a quote by Bertrand Russell: ‘Of all forms of caution, caution in love is perhaps the most fatal to true happiness.’

If subscribing to whatever religion makes a person happy, he or she should never let their sexuality undermine either faith or happiness. instead, embrace both, whatever socio-cultural-religious ethos we subscribe to...surely?

YOU-ME-US REVISITED

I’m walking through the seasons

of my life, with you,

summer, autumn, winter and spring,

no matter what the weather,

come rain, come shine, come mists;

you-me-us, past-present-future

I’m walking through the time lines

of my life with you

by day and night, by night and day,

no matter love and loss,

come tears of joy, come tears of pain

mind-body-spirit, you-me-us,

I’m talking through the raison d’être

of my life with you,

all sociology, politics and religion

expounding views

hell bent, like as not, on compounding

its stereotypes and fake news

I’m talking through the ups and downs

of my life with you,

confidante, counsellor and a best mate,

closer even to alter ego

than either history or contemporaneity

in shaping its persona so

I’m always savouring, the better things

in my life with you,

taking heart from the poetry of all nature

and human nature,

 its working, reworking and sustaining

you-me-us, past-present-future

I’m always trying to live by principles

of my life with you,

taking each day as it comes, though dark

or sunny skies;

your death, my every pulse and heartbeat

this mind-body-spirit, you-me-us

Copyright R. N. Taber, 2020

Eye of the Tiger

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

Since I started this gay-interest poetry blog 10 years ago, I have heard from various gay couples of both genders living in various parts of the world whose prevailing socio-cultural-religious ethos is essentially homophobic. At gay groups around the UK, too, I have met gay boys and girls, men and women whose ethic background has meant their families cannot  reconcile themselves to their being gay.

No one chooses to be gay nor is it an optional lifestyle, but simply the way we are. Nature, unlike much if not most of human society is the kind of broad church that humanity will argue it aspires to, but invariably lets those people down who see our common humanity as just that, an humanity common to us all, regardless of race, religion and, yes, sexuality.

I am often asked why, as a gay person, I have a general poetry blog.  Well, there is far more to all of us - gay or straight - than our sexuality, and I have been pleased to see more gay friendly readers visiting both blogs in recent years.

Hopefully, the future will see fewer ignorant bigots emerging as future generations come to terms with and encourage action against climate change and other issues that affect all humanity, not least the rights of any individual to follow his or her their natural instincts and be as they are, not as some outdated stereotype dictates they should be.  Not everyone will agree, of course, but as I have also asked repeatedly in my posts/ poems...whatever happened to agreeing to differ? Trite, yes, but true as is the old adage, 'United we stand, divided we fall.'

EYE OF THE TIGER

I am who I am and all that I am

is blessed by Earth Mother;

it is she who gives you to me,

at ease with our sexuality;

no one else has the right to speak

against us who are gay;

it is her love gives you to me,

at ease with our sexuality

I am that I am and all that I am

aches for love and peace

among family, friends, a country

at ease with our sexuality

while we dry Earth Mother’s tears

for a make-believe freedom

that gives me to you and you to me,

at ease with our sexuality

Where the tides of time spare none,

find history’s wry comment

on freedom, bright as a tiger’s eye

in the jungle of human nature,

pointing the world to a better place,

kinder of heart, fairer of face,

embracing the likes of you and me

at ease with our sexuality

There is, among all Human Rights,

one that must have priority;

taking pride in our individuality,

no matter its sexuality;

as for those who insist we deserve

punishment, even death...

find none so blind as will not see

Creation’s finer symmetry

Copyright R. N. Taber 2011

[Note: Written in response to a communication from  two secretly  gay Yemenis among anti-government demonstrators in Yemen, February, 2011.]

Curtain Rising on a Sense of What's What

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

This entry is from my general poetry blog archives for June 2014; like many such recent  entries, it could just as well been published on either blog, given that people are people are people, whatever their sexual orientation or socio-cultural-religious background. Many if not most of us would agree, of course, while just as many others continue to judge LGBT people differently. Do any of us have a given right to judge another person, least of all for their sexuality?

Sometimes we wake up and wonder why we bother. Time then to force ourselves to prepare for another day, throw open curtains and windows, breathe in deeply, imbibe the sweeter sounds and smells of life and let them inspire us...in spite of everything that seems to be working against us.

Now, nature may well be as fickle as humankind, but we have but to open our minds to acknowledge its capacity for life, love, and peace to feel invited and inspired to share in it all … and let sheer willpower do the rest, albeit with a native inclination for positive thinking in the driving seat.

No? Try it, and see. It has worked wonders for me over all of 70+ years, even getting me through a bad nervous breakdown in my 30's.

Did I say it was easy ... ?

CURTAIN RISING ON A SENSE OF WHAT'S WHAT

Human hearts top-heavy,

so needing to give expression
to an ache in the soul,
but no one to listen, everyone
playing pass-the-parcel
with us to avoid being put
on the spot or delivering us up
to an answering machine

Come, let's at least try

to appreciate how Earth Mother
does her best for us

Sunshine in a misty rain

making pretty flowers grow;
heavens shedding tears
for us even while raising smiles
on human faces
etched with pain if only
for having gone that extra mile
and been let down

Longing for loved ones

far away (or dead) to give us a hug,

make everything all right

Listen! The trees are singing

in country, city, and town;

Look! Children laughing, playing,
lovers wishing on stars,
Life forces ever reaching out to us,
inviting us to share in it all,
though human nature play us
fair or foul

Copyright R. N. Taber 2007; 2014

[Note: An earlier version of this poem appears under the title 'Curtain Rising in Accomplices to Illusion by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2007.]

You-Me-Us, a Measure of Infinity

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

“Clocks slay time... time is dead as long as it is being clicked off by little wheels; only when the clock stops does time come to life.”
― William Faulkner (The Sound and the Fury)

“The past is never dead. It's not even past.”

― William Faulkner (Requiem for a Nun)

It is so true that time waits for no one, but neither does it stop for any of us either. No, I am not presupposing some religious-oriented eternity, but the posthumous consciousness to which I have often referred in my poems over the past ten years. I will, by the way, be posting far fewer poems from now on as I need to put together revised editions of my poetry collections to eventually post online. I am 74 now and have been living with prostate cancer – among other health issues -since 2011. While I continue to look on the bright side of life, I would like readers to be able to access my poems should Google ever delete my blogs and/or the Grim Reaper come calling sooner rather than later. (Well, you never know…)

Expect the occasional new poem, though, while some of you may like to explore the archives for either or both poetry blogs; these are listed and can be accessed on the right of any blog entry. Oh, and if you ever feel like sending the link to anyone you know who enjoys poetry, be my guest, and many thanks.

Happy New Year everyone, and many thanks for your support over the last 10 years.

YOU-ME-US, A MEASURE OF INFINITY

More than another day
or even another year, but a new decade,
demanding we face it boldly,
unafraid of those who would do us harm
by taking issue with sexual identity
and gender equality in any society answering
to modernity by way of keeping up
appearances. so long as no one gets too close
a look at its underbelly

More than another day,
or even another year, but a new decade,
needing us to be prepared
at the off to take issue with any politics
preferring we focus on blame games
and media criticism
than any deficiencies in policies going ahead
as promised in the General Election if not quite
in the same direction

More than another day,
or even another year, but a new majority
in the upper echelons of power,
as likely to make sure the rich get richer
and the poor get poorer
as it has always been (and always will) if only
because nothing lasts forever
and human nature prefers its best bubble blowers
to insure against the worst

Time, it waits for no one;
rank or station, ours to make of as we will,
its priceless gift to everyone
no less precious a bane as its years go by
and we all get to share
in mixed pleasures long after they have gone;
let a south wind dry any tears,
inspire us to move on, give love its head yet again,
nothing and no one forgotten


Copyright R. N. Taber 2019


[Note: I posted this poem yesterday, but for some unknown reason it was deleted and I have reinstated it; it also appears on my general poetry blog.]

Listening in, Anyone?

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

While many of my poems are concerned with LGBT issues, others could easily have been posted on my general poetry blog. Oh, and why not? As I make the point time and again, there is more to all of us - LGBT or straight - than our sexuality. Just as a person is a person is a person so, too, a poem is a poem is a poem, to take as we find, no rush to judgement or totally misleading stereotypes affecting how we receive either person or poem. (Yes, well, hope springs eternal...)

Given the title of the poem, I should perhaps emphasise - as a significantly if only partially deaf person - that everyone has an 'inner' ear responding to our sensibilities and imagination rather than sounds.

I have been so pleased by the number of readers dipping into both blogs since I have been posting from the archives of one to the other recently.

Expect the occasional new poem/s in 2020, while some of you may like to explore the archives for either or both poetry blogs; these are listed and can be accessed on the right of any blog entry. Oh, and if you ever feel like sending the link to anyone you know who enjoys poetry, be my guest, and many thanks.

Compiling revised editions of my poetry collections will take time, but I will let you know as I complete each one and publish it online.

Happy New Year everyone, and many thanks for your support over the last 10 years.

LISTENING IN , ANYONE?

Another day, another year
as hope springs eternal, catching every tear
that falls, echoing every cry
from the heart for us to treat each other
better than either history
or contemporaneity attempts to remind anyone
who’s listening in

Another day, another year
of an everyday striving to at least appear
at one with a world
tearing us apart with its relentless aggression
against those unable to fit
into our preferred window on life, love, equality
in this or that society

Another day, another year,
pulling mind-body-spirit together, the better
to take each rise and fall
as it comes, keep looking on the bright side
of life, no matter how
we read graffiti on our walls, the good-bad-ugly
sides of human history

Another day, another year,
resolutions made in good faith upon the strokes
of midnight, ear bashing
those with the best of intentions among us
on our way to the bar,
a licence to kill time before it gets to exposing us
for wishful thinkers

Another day, another year,
and more of life's epic poetry writing up humanity,
(warts ‘n’ all, no one spared)
spelling out expectations for future generations,
assuming it’s not too late
to wipe Graffiti Earth clean, rework personal space,
let us breathe again


Copyright R. N. Taber, 2019

[Note: This poem appears on both poetry blogs.]