Wednesday 3 June 2020

G-A-Y, Dance Moves

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

A reader asks if my poetry collections are still in print, Sadly, no, although I am hoping to publish revised editions at a later date. Poetry publishers did not want my gay-interest poems, and I was not prepared to publish a collection without any their being fairly represented. Eventually, I resorted to self-publishing (all) seven collections, but could only afford 200 copies of each at the time; they sold well, and I even made a small profit so I have no regrets. 

One U.S. publisher expressed an interest, but they seemed to think they were doing me a huge favour and could mess me around as much as they liked, so I withdrew. Another, expressed surprise that I write both general and gay-interest poetry … as if there is no more to any of us than our sexuality.

Needless to say, I eventually gave up on poetry publishers altogether apart from continuing to submit poems to poetry magazines for some years.

Now, a young gay man once confided that he was fed up with one-night stands ‘because they never lead anywhere.’ Ah, that may well be true enough, but nothing ventured, nothing gained, and more often than not sex will do just nicely. Besides, you never know …

DANCE MOVES

He caught my eye in a busy bar,
didn’t think I stood a chance
till he grinned and came right up to me,
asked if I’d care to dance

I had to confess to two left feet;
he laughed wickedly and loud,
grabbed my hand without another word,
and led me through the crowd

On the dance floor, I was aware
of people staring at us,
desire pulling strings on my arms and legs,
my heart doing somersaults

Lust, it was, dug its claws into us,
at mind-body-spirit it tore,
in a delicious frenzy of pregnant yearning
demanding more, more, more…

Lust it was, too, kept insisting
we skip coffee at his place,
strip each other naked at its feverish pitch,
submit to its ultimate embrace

All we wanted that crazy night
was sex, sex, and more,
no thought of love’s ever getting a look in 
never been in love before

As we lay awake the next morning,
he tightly squeezed my hand,
our kiss when it came confirming much more
than a one-night stand

Copyright R. N. Taber 2013; 2020


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