http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber
As I am not feeling very well at the moment (not
Covid, probably just the usual ageing 70’s syndrome as I will be 76 later this
year… yike!) it was especially nice to hear from a new reader; he has even
started exploring the blog archives and was very complimentary. He enjoys
poetry in general, but hadn’t found any gay poetry until a friend told him
about me. Feedback, from the start, suggested much the same thing, which is why
I started this blog.
Another reader complains that I post few poems of
special interest to gay readers now; no apologies for running out of bardic
steam, but I’m afraid inspiration is a fickle beast. Even so, I have recently
updated some poems I the archives while trying to put together a new
collection, so maybe he, too, enjoy a browse…?
Yet another reader took offence at the title of my
recent prose post, All Lives Matter. He seems to think I was having a go at the
Black Lives Matter protesters. No offence intended, I assure you, and I fully
support Black Lives Matter although I confess that I remain slightly uneasy
with the name. This clearly came across to A J. who asks “… what else would
have the same impact?” While I would not suggest changing the name now that
everyone is familiar with it, nor am I one to duck a challenge. As a gay man,
I, personally, would have opted for something more all-inclusive like Justice,
Not Prejudice. Even so, I acknowledge the need to draw world attention to
institutional racism wherever in the world it raises it ugly head, so… I’ll be
rooting for Black Lives Matter along with (hopefully) most people from
all walks of life.
Now, we all have our own reasons for disliking or not
getting along with others, whatever their socio-cultural-religious persuasion;
very often it has nothing to do with class, racism, sexism or whatever, but
something about their attitude or behaviour that we find unacceptable for one
reason or another.
While I agree in principle with the ethos of
‘political correctness’ I deplore the way a minority try to manipulate any
difference of opinion into a discriminatory issue. Sadly, the principle of
agreeing to differ appears to have lot its way in a fog of contemporary
rhetoric. Oh, but too many centuries have passed, I suspect, for even an
all-inclusive human nature to readily embrace that principle now.
Enough of Roger’s Ramblings for now. I am working on a
new poem for Monday (in-between such distractions as housework, shopping and
struggling with various health issues, to name but three… It’s not a
gay-specific poem, but I plan to post it on both poetry blogs since its theme
is along lines of a blame game that we all so love to play from time to time.
Take care, everyone, and thanks for dropping by,
Back soon,
Hugs,
Roger
PS Regarding the archives, I have recently come across some poems there that are a mess, possibly due to changes in Internet technology so I am correcting and occasionally revising some poems as I find them. Should any readers come across a poem there that needs my attention, please let me know.
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