http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber
This poem was originally written in in the 1990’s and first published on the blog in 2009, about the time I started writing it up.
At the time, I had only days earlier, been sitting behind two people on a crowded bus engaged in a conversation on the subject of contemporary society; one as loudly aggressive in his manner as the other was quietly defensive, the former receiving murmurs of agreement from other passengers.
A cleric sitting in front of me, directly behind the pair in question, kept nodding his head sagely, although it was unclear at whom or at what part of the conversation he was nodding.
While debating with myself as to whether or not I should make a positive contribution to what was, after all, meant to be a private conversation, I was pipped to the post by a guy who said (very loudly) as he left the bus, “I’m not especially proud of being gay or HIV, but I’m damned if I’ll be made to feel ashamed of it by other people’s sick ignorance.” I am pleased to say that several people clapped him (very) loudly among whom, of course, I was one.
During the time that passed before my alighting a few stops further on, no one spoke.
Some twenty years later, people keep telling me that attitudes towards gay people and those with HIV-AIDS have changed for the better and how there is even legislation (in some countries) to back it up. Have I not heard of Political Correctness, and Human Rights? So ... why don't people like me just shut up and count our blessings?
Why, indeed ...?
LOUDMOUTH
I tell you, homosexuality
is no less a blasphemy in this
twenty-first century…
Why on earth should we
accept, let alone tolerate those
committing sodomy?
As for lesbians, how dare
they argue that in love and sex,
all is fair?
It’s a poor example we set
when society lets gay people
have a say in it...
How can we ever justify
letting everyone stake a claim
for equality?
What more dreadful legacy
to bequeath future generations
than HIV?
Religion, culture, morality,
better these heed a rich rhetoric
than poor humanity
What’s that I hear you say?
Better we try and save the planet
than rail against being gay?
You may have a point, I guess;
maybe we should make love more,
and war less…?
Copyright R. N. Taber 2009; 2016
This poem was originally written in in the 1990’s and first published on the blog in 2009, about the time I started writing it up.
At the time, I had only days earlier, been sitting behind two people on a crowded bus engaged in a conversation on the subject of contemporary society; one as loudly aggressive in his manner as the other was quietly defensive, the former receiving murmurs of agreement from other passengers.
A cleric sitting in front of me, directly behind the pair in question, kept nodding his head sagely, although it was unclear at whom or at what part of the conversation he was nodding.
While debating with myself as to whether or not I should make a positive contribution to what was, after all, meant to be a private conversation, I was pipped to the post by a guy who said (very loudly) as he left the bus, “I’m not especially proud of being gay or HIV, but I’m damned if I’ll be made to feel ashamed of it by other people’s sick ignorance.” I am pleased to say that several people clapped him (very) loudly among whom, of course, I was one.
During the time that passed before my alighting a few stops further on, no one spoke.
Some twenty years later, people keep telling me that attitudes towards gay people and those with HIV-AIDS have changed for the better and how there is even legislation (in some countries) to back it up. Have I not heard of Political Correctness, and Human Rights? So ... why don't people like me just shut up and count our blessings?
Why, indeed ...?
LOUDMOUTH
I tell you, homosexuality
is no less a blasphemy in this
twenty-first century…
Why on earth should we
accept, let alone tolerate those
committing sodomy?
As for lesbians, how dare
they argue that in love and sex,
all is fair?
It’s a poor example we set
when society lets gay people
have a say in it...
How can we ever justify
letting everyone stake a claim
for equality?
What more dreadful legacy
to bequeath future generations
than HIV?
Religion, culture, morality,
better these heed a rich rhetoric
than poor humanity
What’s that I hear you say?
Better we try and save the planet
than rail against being gay?
You may have a point, I guess;
maybe we should make love more,
and war less…?
Copyright R. N. Taber 2009; 2016
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