Echoes of a Season Past

 

ROGER TABER - POETRY READING
21 March 2017 – Part 2

From Roger’s friend, Graham

Greetings from autumnal Essex, UK,

I’m sharing the second part of Roger’s poetry reading. Again, I’ve embellished the recording with imagery (including the occasional cheeky pun). I’m grateful to the photographers who’ve shared their work (public domain license) on the Pixabay, Pexels and Unsplash websites. Wikimedia has also proven really helpful.

Here’s the link: https://youtu.be/hs3aTILOdtU. Or find it by searching ‘roger taber poetry’ in YouTube if you prefer.

I was reflecting on my previous comments about performance poetry being more expressive than printed form. How it reveals the intensity, passion and human frailty of the poet. And yet, conversely, a soundtrack could be interpreted as the author’s impressing of a particular perspective on his work. I wonder if poetry, art or music is really more about multiple viewpoints…? And written verse, perhaps, remains more accessible to those differing interpretations. Either way, I still think the recording adds an interesting facet to Roger’s published work.

The selection contains some personal favourites – ‘Suggestions’ and ‘The Poet’s Song’ among them. I read the latter at Roger’s funeral as part of a eulogy. Although it’s not sombre - rather a celebration of the artform. After all, ‘look on the bright side’ was his mantra. Even on his poetic postcards from the abyss.

Inevitably, the project has left me with a sense of retrospection. Roger died back in March last year although, for me at least, his presence lingers. His connection to the world endures somehow in a continuum of past-present-future. Like a pebble cast into water, his life-force resonates through a sea of time…

Memory’s warming embers ever glimmer in the shadow of grief.

Thanks for reading/listening.

G x

 

*  *  *

 

‘I am hopelessly in love with a memory. An echo from another time, another place.’
Michel Foucault

‘No one is actually dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away.’
Terry Pratchett

‘As long as there are memories, yesterday remains. As long as there is hope, tomorrow awaits. As long as there is friendship, today is beautiful.’
Billy Joel

 

*  *  *

 

ROGER TABER - POETRY READING
Tuesday, 21 March 2017

PART 2

The Master Baiter
W-A-R, Crucible Of Remembrance
Spring Magic
Logging On To Life
Imagination, Painter Of Dreams or Masochist
National Trust Outing
Suggestions
Shades Of Comic Genius
Engaging With Nature or Living With Prostate Cancer
Patchwork
Ode To Apollo or Profile Of A Life-force
Heartbeat or Waking Up To The Power of Positive Thinking
Poems By Passing Clouds
The Poet’s Song
In Good Company

(CC) R. N. Taber 2017

On the Road, at Apollo's Call

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

Regular readers will know that I am not a religious person although I like to think I have a strong sense of spirituality that I found in nature long ago. (Why should religion have a monopoly on spirituality, anyway?)

There have been many times in my life when I have been close to despair, and nature has saved me.

No coincidence then, perhaps, that the mythical god, Apollo, was reputed to have been bisexual and sunshine is to nature as love is to life…

ON THE ROAD,  AT APOLLO'S CALL

On the road

Spirit of life draining

from me,

I lay down by a tree,

let its branches

lift me free of the earth,

sail me on leaves

through time and space

to another place

where love and peace

are no sad dreams,

joys of hope running free

for all to see

On the road

Weary leaves unable

to sustain me,

returning me to earth

(nor gently)

as autumn descending

into winter,

my life ebbing away

into a stream

of misty consciousness,

happiness a blur,

(so near, yet, oh, so far)

my way unclear

On the road

Sun, suddenly shining

calling on the tree

to do the right thing

by me,

heed Apollo’s calling,

buds awakening,

new life shaping ways

of restoring

all weariness to vigour,

defeating despair,

defying the human spirit

to turn a deaf ear

On the road

Climbing a stairway

of sunbeams

on wings of a prayer

that you’ll still

be there, waiting

in a heaven

of our own making,

Earth Mother

at our side, fair Apollo

for a guide,

urging us seize the day

for being gay

On the road

I had not flown far,

spirits of love

and peace at my heels,

when I saw you

waiting at the next bend

where I fell

into arms open wide

like the branches

of a tree, restoring me

to life,

and bringing us together

forever

Copyright R. N. Taber 2015

Sunbather

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

Apollo, the sun god of mythology was reputed to be bisexual. Perhaps that is why (for anyone, gay or straight) basking in some everlasting summer of love is much like basking in the sun under blue skies, not a cloud on the horizon. As for any rain clouds that might happen along…out of sight, out of mind in a world where it is probably only love that keeps us going, inspires us to rise out its worst storms and convinces us things can only get better…

Photo: Super Paradise (gay-friendly) Beach, Greece

THE SUNBATHER

I have loved your body

as a sunbather, the glowing sun,

letting its heat take me in,

as a kind person might a stranger

enduring hard times ...

I have loved your body

as a weary pilgrim, the sun’s rays

licking at the flesh,

as a child eye might someone else's

ice cream cone

I have loved your body

as a small child, lost and found,

will enjoy embraces,

or a lonely person the homely smile

of a passer-by ...

I have loved your body

much as someone making their way

in a misshapen world

finds inspiration in experiences

of its finer arts

I have loved your body

much as a sunbather, the glowing sun,

letting its heat take me in

where we are shown each other

as we are ... 

I have loved your body

much as a small child, lost and found,

welcomes peace of mind

as a gay person might the goodwill

of a cleric

I have loved your body

as someone making their way

in a divisive world

takes inspiration from a gay ethic

over centuries ...

I have loved your body

as a shadow at the edge of time

slipping into the light,

left in peace to create the landscape

of eternity

Copyright R. N. Taber 2014

No Apology For Sexuality

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

Yes, another love poem. Oh, and why not?

Now, someone asked me why Apollo often features in my poems. It has to do with conveying the idea that what the poem has to say is nothing new but goes back centuries.  

Let’s not forget either that, according to various myths and legends, Apollo was bisexual. How can any gay writer who has an affinity with history and nature avoid making reference to such metaphors of old?

No one in the LGBT community should ever feel that he or she needs to apologise to anyone for their sexuality, whatever his or her socio-cultural-religious persuasion.

This poem is a villanelle.

NO APOLOGY FOR SEXUALITY

Once, Apollo came to me

in a godly light,

kissing me passionately

We made love feverishly,

and it felt right

once Apollo came to me

It was a divine intimacy

as he held me tight,

kissing me passionately

At dusk, a tearful apology

for taking flight;

Once, Apollo came to me...

No need for any apology

from you at night,

kissing me passionately

Grown old, love as feisty

as its first sunlight...

Once, Apollo came to me,

kissing me passionately

Copyright R. N. Taber 2009; 2012

[Note: An earlier version of this poem appears in On The Battlefields Of Love by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2010. According to Greek mythology, Apollo was known to have both male and female lovers.]

.]

Apollo In Winter

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

I hadn’t intended to write a poem for the winter solstice even though it happens to fall on my birthday. [I am 66 years-old today...oo-err!] However, ‘Joel from somewhere in the universe’ has asked me to write something for his grandpa whose eightieth birthday is also today. It seems that Joel’s granddad is from Greece originally, but hasn’t lived there for years, and came out in 1991 when he was sixty.

Oh, but it’s just as the old adage goes; it’s never too late to get a life.

Congratulations go to grandpa and partner, and many thanks to Joel for getting in touch. I have tried to open up the poem so it is not only the likes of Joel’s grandpa that can relate to it.

This poem is a villanelle.

APOLLO IN WINTER or CUE FOR AN ARMISTICE

Risen one winter solstice,

in the firing line of ungodly bigotry,

forever proposing an armistice

As vulnerable to distress

as wintry hearts a summer memory;

risen one winter solstice

Driven close to The Abyss,

never giving ground on a spirituality

forever proposing an armistice

Savouring freedom in openness,

nurturing every seedling to maturity;

risen one winter solstice

Resilient if tearful under duress;

among shades of awakening sexuality,

forever proposing an armistice

No lack of strategies for peace,

despite a warring twenty-first century;

risen one winter solstice,

forever proposing an armistice

London: Dec 21^st 2011

Copyright R. N. Taber 2011

[Note: According to Greek mythology, Apollo, the sun god, was bisexual, but had a special preference for male companionship, and more ...]