Bells, Messaging the Spirit of Christmas

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

“Christmas… is love in action. Every time we love, every time we give, it's Christmas.” - Dale Evans

“If there are occasions when my grape turned into a raisin and my joy bell lost its resonance, please forgive me. Charge it to my head and not to my heart.” - Jesse Jackson

“Oh, Christmas isn't just a day, it's a frame of mind.” – ‘Kris Kringle’ in the movie, Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

“I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach.” - ‘Scrooge’ in Stave 4 of  A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

“The temple bell stops but I still hear the sound coming out of the flowers.” - Matsuo Basho

Reader C. C. who lives in East London, has asked for "...a Christmas poem that gay and other LBT readers, especially any rejected by family and peers for our sexual identity - seen as an abuse against certain cultural ideals - can relate to, while continuing to identify with a universal  'spirit' of Christmas, regardless of cultural demands."

Well, C.C.I have done my best and can but hope you are able to relate to the poem-post below and at least some of the quotations above.

During my first winter term at Junior School, (some 70 years ago…oo-err!) a teacher asked what we most enjoy at Christmas. “Presents, sir!", more than half the class yelled. One boy simply put his hand up. When the teacher indicated for him to speak, he said, “I enjoy it because people are much nicer and kinder.” “A good point,” said the teacher with feeling, “I daresay many people would agree with you about other religious festivals as well…” He then changed the subject, but I wasn’t the only one left reflecting on his words… and continue to do so. 😉 

As regular readers know, I became as disillusioned with most religious leaders and world religions as with most  politicians and world politics generally over the years, and now think of myself as a Pantheist. 

Now, having written and enjoyed reading poetry for as long as I can remember, I have tried to write a Poem for Christmas that reflects the common spirit of world religions, an all-embracing inclusiveness often found wanting in the interpretation of various dogma associated with them. And, no, I do not exclude Christianity. 

Although I respect anyone’s religious Beliefs, I reserve the right (as regular readers will also know) to agree to differ…😉

BELLS, MESSAGING THE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS

Bells! Ringing out the same message
over centuries of fear
and pain, ringing out yet again
to remind the world
of such love and peace for all souls
striving, even fighting 
for peace of mind, but wishful thinking 
among any made to suffer hate and hypocrisy
poisoning a common humanity

They know, the bells, and feel our pain
as and when we struggle
to rise above it all, find peace and love
within each other,
endeavour to let the world know, for all 
its many differences,
that 'Love rules OK' and will find a way
to make its presence plainly and believably told,
no LGBT folks, left out in the cold

Hear the joyful sound of Christmas bells,
sending a message 
of peace, hope, love and goodwill 
to a common humanity,
men, women and children, no exceptions
for gender, ethnicity 
or sexual identity, celebrating heart-and-soul
of You-Me-Us by drawing on its multiple voices,
addressing the Spirit of Christmas

It's an all-inclusive You-Me-Us, a new generation,
acknowledging the kinder side of being human

Copyright R. N. Taber, 2022

[Note: The greater part of this post-poem also appears on my general poetry blog today.] RT

Potential for a Love Story OR The Eyes Have It

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

“Love has no gender - compassion has no religion - character has no race.” - Abhijit Naskar, Either Civilised or Phobic: A Treatise on Homosexuality 

“Love him and let him love you. Do you think anything else under heaven really matters?” – James Baldwin

“Equality means more than passing laws. The struggle is really won in the hearts and minds of the community, where it really counts.” – Barbara Gittings

“Sexuality is one of the ways in which we become enlightened, actually, because it leads to self-knowledge – Alice Walker”

Now, it was a lay preacher who first defined ‘gay’ for me as “A person who not only sees no sin in being physically attracted to their own gender, but dares to justify any such relationship by suggesting it is a mutually consensual experiment in love. Love, of course, plays no part in it. It’s but an excuse for casual sex which, even between opposite genders is only ever at best, a selfish act, at worst, a sin.”

“But what if the couple concerned really do fall in love?” I wanted to know.

“Are you deaf, or something,” he snapped testily, there is no such thing as falling in love with someone of your own sex. Love them, yes, by all means, but platonically, not in a physical sense.” Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have things to do…”

Even at the age of 11, ‘pompous ass’ was the first phrase that sprung to mind as I watched him go.

It was the 1950’s. My mind continued to dwell on that conversation even before I realised I was gay myself. So prevalent and widely accepted was such prejudice towards gay folks in those days, that I felt unable to confide in anyone.

As regular readers will know, it would be another twenty years before I felt strong enough to share my secret with the world, but not before falling in love with a potential partner for life who was killed in a car accident that sent me scurrying back into a lonely closet.

Fewer people these days are intimidated by religious objections to a person’s sexuality and are more inclined to take others as they find them and play any potential friendship by ear.

Now, some readers may well be interested in the revised edition of Odd Men Out by John-Pierre Joyce, Manchester University Press, 2022. It charts the history of gay men in 1950’s and 1960’s Britain, but I suspect gay men everywhere, from all walks of life, will be able to relate to it, not least because homophobia remains rampant across the world, not least due to the narrowmindedness and sheer hypocrisy of various religions.

POTENTIAL FOR A LOVE STORY or THE EYES HAVE IT

As he turned from his window
on the world below,
his gaze rested briefly on me,
and in that moment,
we strangers acknowledged
the prison from which
we so longed to go free to enjoy
such venial pleasures, for better or worse
as would see us embrace

He left the room without a word,
intuitively, I followed;
sooner, rather than later, we knew
we would be acting out
a beautiful dream acknowledged
under cover of silence,
bringing us together to revel
in such carnal delights as we would share,
for laying our souls bare

Better bare than clothed in hypocrisies
constantly insisting
we are committing various sins
of the flesh, sure to see us
in a hell of our own construction 
for denying the edicts
of religions dating back centuries,
ostensibly expressions of love and peace,
except for You-Me-Us

I am that desire-of-the-flesh-become-reality,
transcending a potential love story

Copyright R. N. Taber, 2022 

[Note: Several straight friends insisted I publish this post-poem on both poetry blogs today. Who am I to argue...?]

 

S-E-X-U-A-L-I-T-Y, Life Drawings OR L-O-V-E, the Anthology

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

Despite the usual trolls, the likes of which I always ignore, yesterday’s prose post on my gay-interest  blog appears to have been well received by its readers, so much so that I felt inspired to write a new poem; while it will be of special interest to LGBT readers, I am also posting it on my general poetry blog today although I suspect it may offend some people. What’s that I hear? How can a poem offend anyone?  Oh, but I learned way back in my formative years how quickly some people take offence, even where none is intended. 

An old friend, knowing that I am gay, once commented that he feels uncomfortable in the presence of gay people. I chose not to take offence, especially as he hadn't known I was gay when we first met some 40 years previously, but the hurt I felt remains to this day.

At 75, my memory is none too reliable, not least due to various health issues and subsequent treatment  and I’m often told off for repeating myself, but - as my dear mother would often say - if something is worth saying, it is always worth repeating; in this case, that a poem is a poem is a poem, whatever its theme, just as a person is a person is a person, whatever their gender, ethnicity, political/ religious persuasion or, yes, sexuality. Few of us would argue differently on principle; as for putting that same principle into practise, human nature being what it is...

A schoolfriend once commented with a huge sigh that the world turns on human nature, to which another friend commented, “Better that than stereotypes,” to which a third friend added, with a wicked grin, “There’s a difference?” All three looked at me expectantly, but, coward that I was back then, I refused to be drawn and changed the subject. That was some 60 years ago, yet I overheard much the same conversation while keeping a social distance behind four young people only the other day… with my hearing aid turned on, of course. 😉

S-E-X-U-A-L-I-T-Y, LIFE DRAWINGS or LO-V-E, THE ANTHOLOGY

Once, I hid within myself,
afraid of coming out or being outed
to the world, given to believe
that my being gay was at best, a crime,
at worst, a sin 

Once, when I was younger,
and gullible, less wise to societies open
to homophobic agenda-dogma,
I was given to believe my homosexuality
made me an outcast 

Once, while growing older,
I met a man, fell in love despite my fears,
shared a heavenly spirituality,
of a beauty I’d been warned You-Me-Us
needs must forfeit 

Old now, looking back in anger
for years I may well have missed had love
in all its richness not come my way,
for fear of its being stigmatised by the likes
of my so-called 'betters' 

Some may well wish me in Hell
for my engaging in same-sex relationships,
but love is a heaven of its own making,
and God is Love, so how, by its very nature,
any less worthy of nurture? 

Many questions, as many answers,
as we journey our years and personal space,
but let not fear deprive us of love’s ways;
in love, the greater part of the human condition,
that’s first among equals 

Copyright R. N. Taber, 2021

[Note: This post-poem also appears on my general poetry blog today] RT

 

All Lives Matter

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

A reader asks why I rarely post any specifically gay-interest poems here any more. Well, I'm 75 years-old now and fear I have almost run out of bardic steam altogether, having written well over 1000 poems since I started writing up both poetry blogs some ten years ago. At the time, I knew of few gay poets apart from Thom Gunn, and was unable to relate to many of his poems. 

Writing poems is partly creative therapy for me as I have had a running battle with depression all my life. More importantly, though, I wanted to encourage gay men and woman living in the kind of homophobic society in which I grew up to feel better and more confident in their sexuality than I did in my early years; feedback suggests there are still plenty of us around the world whose home and/or cultural environment remains as homophobic as when I was a young man. As regular readers will know, I was in my early 30's before I finally emerged from a lonely closet and came out to the world as a gay man.

Although I write few specifically LGBT poems now, many poems that I post on my general blog are simply written with any reader in mind who feels, for whatever reason, something of an outsider. I relate to one particular quote by the novelist James Baldwin, so intensely, it hurts: 

"Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced." 

Having faced up to and defied my own demons, I (naively perhaps)  wanted to encourage others to do the same, not only for their own well-being, but also in the hope that same sex relationships - especially between men - might become less stigmatised and stereotyped around the world. 

Nor is it a world devoid of spirituality. I, personally, have never believed that any religion has a monopoly on spirituality. I don't subscribe to any of the world religions because homophobia is the worst kind of religious hypocrisy. Essentially, they all claim to be about love; God is love. Yet, love is neither as selective or discriminatory as various religious agendas or dogma would have us believe. Love is universal.

I respect a person's religious beliefs, of course I do, but if looks could kill, I would be long dead for being critical of any religion. As I have asked so many times on both blogs, whatever happened to agreeing to differ?

In latter years, I am increasingly drawn to Pantheism, a religious philosophy that sees God as Nature, not its creator. 

Having always nurtured a close relationship with the natural world, it offers me  - as a person as well as a poet - a comfort and vision of life that is far more inspirational that anything to which any world-centred agenda or dogma can come close. It is not for everyone, of course, but it has helped me find myself,  discover and nurture an intimacy with an inner self that might otherwise have remained a complete mystery and left me floundering. I cannot claim to have solved the mystery, of course, even in relation to myself, but attempting to do so has brought me closer that I dared hope; it has been a long journey, often a tough one, not least for exposing my various weaknesses and fears demanding t I face and overcome them; a journey well worth the making, and not over yet. 

It is reassuring to see that many young people are embarking on much the same journey and that at least some societies and communities worldwide are less inclined to stigmatise them for it.

As for its being considered a different, even sinful journey by the many bigots among us, as I have said so ay times on my blogs, our differences do not make us different, only human.

"The curious thing is that I embraced homosexuality with as much joy and delight as I've embraced everything else in my life." Miriam Margolyes

Feedback suggests that many gay readers only read this blog, but please di dip into my general poetry blog from time to time; you may find the archives of either or both blogs worth dipping into also; if you like poetry, that is, and I know not everyone does, nor do I imagine you will like everything I write, possibly not a lot, but if what you read provides food for positive rather than negative thought and feeling...well, what more can a poet ask? 

At the moment, I am trying to compile a new collection for publishing in print and on-line, but I will be thinking of and rooting for you all still. I hope to post a new poem on my general blog at least once a week, so please do drop by; a poem is a poem is a poem, after all, just as a person is a person is a human being, regardless of gender, ethnicity or sexual persuasion.

Take care, everyone, and be sure to nurture a positive mindset, whatever life throws at you

Hopefully, back soon... with a poem😉

Hugs,

Roger

[Note: The greater part of this post appears on both poetry blogs today.] RT

 

One for the Family Album

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

Regular readers will know that I am pantheist in so far as I see God as nature rather than its creator.

Now, being gay is not a choice, but who we are; the only choice lies in whether or not we choose to be ourselves; rarely an easy choice given the persistent stereotyping and other fake news that has plagued the whole LGBT community for centuries.

Albert Einstein expressed strong views about prejudice, among them:

Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are incapable of forming such opinions. 

 - Albert Einstein, Essay to Leo Baeck, 1953

ONE FOR THE FAMILY ALBUM

I am as I am,
although world religions 
see fit to take issue,
yet mind-body-spirit trusts itself,
won’t concede defeat,
and some would say a hypocrite,
mind-body-spirit 
quite simply in denial for refusing
to admit it's misguided

I am as I am,
a sense of spirituality as much part
of me as any other
for its embracing that whole of me, 
can see no wrong
in asking of others no more or less
than asked of me
in simply being human, warts ‘n’ all
not driven into freefall 

What’s wrong
in nursing opinions with which some
may well not agree,
given freedom-of-thought at the heart
of human nature
for its needing to incite critical debate
(all-comers welcome)
to have an agreeing-to-differ mentality
driving human society? 

I am gay, as blessed a Child of  Nature
as any other

Copyright R. N. Taber, 2021

 [Note: Apologies for the error in the first stanza of the original poem, now corrected on both poetry blogs.] RT

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Casual Chat in a Greasy Spoon OR Impromptu Confession

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

Some heterosexuals are (still) all but obsessed with the belief they cannot possibly contract HIV-AIDS because they are not gay. Yes, it’s unbelievable, but true. When it happens to them, they haven’t a clue how to handle it. The same can be said for some bisexual gay men and women of course; a lot of gay guys, too, live in a complacent little bubble of their own making.

I have written many poems about HIV-AIDS but it was today’s poem that first appeared on both blogs in February 2010 which caught a reader’s eye. ‘Rudi’ apparently had a friend in denial about recently been diagnosed HIV + while being treated in hospital for something else. Rudi said, ‘It’s like he can’t believe it could happen to a super fit heterosexual like him even though he sleeps around and doesn’t always use a condom. It has never occurred to him that one of his casual girlfriends might have been infected by another casual male partner...as if he’s the only one into casual sex!’ Rudi added, ‘They have tried to help him at the hospital, but he won’t listen. He has convinced himself there has been a mistake, and they are a bunch of incompetents.’

Playing the blame game is always a waste of time. Rudi’s friend eventually came to his senses, saw his GP and a counsellor and got medication/advice. Just because people can live for years with the HIV-AIDS virus these days is no cause for complacency and is wholly dependent upon the right medication and a mature attitude to sexual responsibility.

Even talking to a complete stranger in a 'greasy spoon' café is as good a start as any although why so many straight guys seem to think we gay guys should be any more comfortable with the idea of HIV-AIDS than they are remains a mystery to me. Maybe they think that, because we have lived with the possibility longer and perhaps more intimately, it is ingrained in our psyche; forewarned, so to speak, is forearmed? There may even be something in that, but living with HIV+ is no easy ride for anyone.

This is an autobiographical poem and the guy who told me he was HIV+ plainly thought I’d be ‘a good guy to talk to’ because he thought I ‘looked gay’ and ‘would know about these things.’ I tried to reassure him and gave him some good advice for which he was grateful, but squirmed a lot. We shook hands when we parted, and he told me in a well-meaning if also very patronising way, ‘It’s been nice talking to you. Hey, you lot aren’t so bad, are you?’ I took it to be a rhetorical question and summoned a diplomatic smile.

By the way, Rudi didn’t say if he is gay or straight [does it matter?] but did mention that he is tested for HIV-AIDS on a regular basis, but a lot of his friends ‘can’t be bothered’ and/or ‘would rather not know anyway.’  Good for you, Rudi, and I hope you manage to knock some common sense into those idiots.

This poem is a villanelle.

CASUAL CHAT IN A GREASY SPOON or IMPROMPTU CONFESSION

I met a guy in a café one spring day

(me wearing a bright pink tee);

he blurted, "I'm HIV+ but not gay."

I’d just sat down, and chose to stay

despite his open hostility;

I met him in a café one spring day

He said he doesn’t do nice, no way,

to my ‘sort’ especially;

he blurted, “I’m HIV+ but not gay.”

I fought hard to keep my hurt at bay,

as he was upset and angry;

I met him in a café one spring day

“It’s down to you lot I’m sick today,

you’re no fit company.”;

he blurted, “I’m HIV+ but not gay.”

Sex is no game, and takes two to play.

we agreed (eventually);

I met a guy in a café one spring day;

he blurted. “I’m HIV+ but not gay.

Copyright R N. Taber 2010; 2020

[Note: An earlier version of this poem appears in On the Battlefields of Love by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2010. NB For anyone not in the know, 'Greasy Spoon' is a colloquial term for a small, cheap restaurant or diner typically specialising in fried foods.]

It is what it Is... or is it?

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

Now and then readers email me  to ask if I consider myself an atheist or agnostic because I am gay and, if not, why not…?

Over the years (I'm in my 70's now) I have lost count of the times I have been told by members of various religious groups that I will go to hell for being gay. A colleague at work once told me that she enjoyed working with me, and she was sorry I would go to hell (for being gay.) If we had not been in a busy public library at the time, I would have given her as good as I was getting, but I kept a tactful silence. If she interpreted my silence as a respectful one, she could not have been more wrong; her religion I respect, yes, its bigotry, no. Fortunately not all religious people are bigots, and I have felt privileged, indeed, to meet some of them.

So ... God is a homophobe? Evangelical Christians and the majority of Muslims are by far the worst, for being homophobic, but I exclude none. (While Judaism is inclined towards a liberal attitude towards LGBT issues, most Orthodox Jews stop well short of sanctioning LGBT relationships.) For this reason, I am publishing this post/poem on both blogs; it first appeared in 2017. Regular readers will know that I have every respect for all religious faiths, but as a human being (who happens to be gay) I have the right of reply ... don't I?

At school, 50+ years ago, we were once asked to write an essay about ‘Secrets’. This was preceded by a class discussion on the subject during which we were all agreed that secrets are hard to keep, especially from family and friends. Someone made an unkind remark about gays not being ‘out’ to which the teacher responded with a wry shrug that “Time outs us all, in the end. The trick is to get in first, before gossip and ignorance can do their worst.’ This comment certainly livened up the debate, but I missed most of what was being said for dwelling on the concept of Time ‘outing us all in the end.’ It is so true. Gay or straight, it is a rare person that has no secrets; invariably these come out, if not during their lifetime then in the course of events following their death.

I only came out to a few people until a bad nervous breakdown in my 30’s finally rid me of all self-consciousness about my sexuality. Even then, though, I trod carefully through what I had known for years as a minefield of public opinion. The breakdown had lasted several years before I found the confidence to face the world again. During this time, I explored human nature through avid reading and writing poetry, both of which had already stood me in good stead at university.

Being gay is, of course, only one aspect of human nature, one part of a complex whole. It has always been the whole that interests me although, obviously, I have a special interest in the gay aspect. Some gay people seem to find it strange that I write general as well as gay-interest poetry. But…why not? Being gay is a very significant part of who I am, yes, but I can hardly ignore the rest of me, those other parts that make me who and what I am. Well, can I...?

In my 70’s now, I often look back and wish I had done things differently (as in ‘better’) but I guess we are all victims of our circumstances up to a point, and my circumstances have often conspired against me. Yet, I am no victim in the sense that I made my own choices, albeit not always the right ones.

Many who subscribe to a religion have told me I will forfeit Heaven and go to Hell although I suspect we make our own heaven and hell as our lives take shape by our own hand. So is death the end of all things, I wonder? I have no idea, but as a nature lover, take comfort from the way nature nurtures itself, and spring follows winter. Love, too, never dies even as lovers and loved ones pass away. I suppose I put what Faith I have in nature and love rather than in any religion since, from both, I have always taken a strong sense of spirituality. As to whether or not that sense of spirituality is seen as a sufficiently positive force in my poetry  to pass into living memory after my death, only time will tell.

No agnostic or atheist, me, but a pantheist. 

IT IS WHAT IT IS…OR IS IT?

Time running out,

mind-body-spirit left floundering

among regrets

for missed opportunities, rushes

to misjudgement,

and plain, everyday mistakes

with consequences...

for there can be no payback

equal to the task

of making reparation for any flaws

in humankind

No sense of a God

likely to extend any forgiveness

to the likes of me,

unable to relate to any Heaven

(potential safe haven)

throughout a lifetime of struggling

to make sense of dogma

interpreted by Religion’s finest

as leave to preach

a Politics of the Heart making sense

of humankind

How then to approach

the End of Things in the absence

of any New Beginning

other than as some deactivated spirit

gone to ashes, dust,

someone else’s (imperfect) memory,

there to endure

a kindly ‘eternity’ that sits more easily

on the tongue than ‘death’

while advocating spiritual qualities

in humankind?

I have asked this of poems

that have dogged my every footstep

from child to senior,

no one answer offered (or confirmed)

but a sense of moving

through time (other than growing old)

acting out tales passed on

by ghosts about leaving footprints;

no one left behind

but (together) creating a continuum

called humankind

To each, our own way,

engaging with the greater mysteries

of life and death,

finding such comfort as we can,

pinning our finer hopes

on what’s better, kindlier, said

and done, wiser choices

than less so, promise nurtured

or left unfulfilled

for an indefinable social conscience

to define us as it will

Whatever, it is what it is, and Time

will out us all one way or another…

Copyright R. N. Taber 2017; 2020

[Note: This poem/ post also appears on my general poetry blog today.]

Out of Africa OR P-r-e-j-u-d-i-c-e-s, Weapons of Mass Destruction

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

Feedback suggests that a number of new readers have been visiting both poetry blogs since the coronavirus, COVID -19, began to spread around the world, forcing many of us to stay at home and find new ways of distracting ourselves from the harsh realities evolving all around us. One reader writes: "Homosexuality is a sin, and trying to pretend otherwise simply because the cap happens to fit you, is nothing short of pathetic ..." Another reader writes, “The coronavirus is also a pandemic, right? Only there is nothing new about it.” Yours truly can but echo the latter comment, arguing - as regular readers are well aware - that our differences do not make us different, only human. RNT

Now, there will always be those opposed to change, especially where certain aspects of socio-cultural-religious dogma are concerned. Thankfully, though, common humanity (and science) invariably gets the better of them or civilisation as we know it (or think we do) would never have developed, albeit it still has a way to go ...

Today’s poem is not new to either blog, but one I have been asked to repeat (after some revision) by several gay-friendly as well as gay readers from various African (and other) countries; to those readers who email me from time to time, asking why I feel any need to support gay people in what someone recently referred to as 'this Golden Age of Equality', it perhaps offers an answer. Sadly, even well-meaning legislation (and religion) can only go so far in tempering that too-common element of human nature called bigotry. (I am gay, yes, but ask any woman or victim of racial abuse about this Golden age of Equality...!)

As I have said many times on my poetry blogs - in both poems and preambles - a minority of readers who get in touch from time to time in support of the vilification of LGBT people will just have to get used to the fact that we are all part of a common humanity

Evangelical pastors preaching homophobia and worse across the world - not least, much of Africa - have to be among the worst diehards. They have much to answer for, and bear no small responsibility for anti-gay legislation in many countries; such is their influence that a newspaper editor in Uganda once called for the deaths of known gay people.

David Kato (Uganda) and Eric Lembembe (Cameroon) - both gay activists - were murdered in January 2011 and July 2013 respectively; the number of gay-related killings across Africa is likely to be much higher.

But there is hope for us all yet. Evangelical leader and author Jen Hatmaker publicly changed her views on gay marriage in 2016. Both a Facebook entry calling for LGBT acceptance and comments about supporting same-sex marriage in an interview led Life Way Christian Stores to quit selling her books.

 “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”- Martin Luther King

“Hypocrisy and distortion are passing currents under the name of religion.” – Mahatma Gandhi]

"The death of dogma is the birth of morality." - Immanuel Kant

"From the beginning men used God to justify the unjustifiable." - Salman Rushdie, The Satanic Verses

“I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain.” - James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time

“Animals don't hate, and we're supposed to be better than them.” - Elvis Presley

OUT OF AFRICA or P-R-E-J-U-D-I-C-E, WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION 

'Kill the homosexuals!’

a local pastor cried;

and true to his words,

many gay men and women

have since died

"Homosexuals are sinners!’

the impassioned pastor yelled

at a congregation

that took up the cry, would

see us killed

"Homosexuality is an evil!"

the demon pastor screamed,

‘and no known cure

so kill it, and let its sinning

be redeemed

‘Man shall with woman lie!’

The pastor furiously exhorted

his flock to heed verses

from Leviticus, Christ’s coming

conveniently aborted

Someone in the congregation

dared point out that Christ said

we should love

and help our neighbours, not

wish them dead

‘Blasphemer!” the pastor cried,

near hysterical, refusing to relent

on a demonising

of homosexuality undermining

the New Testament

Africa, why are you (or is anyone)

even listening…?

Copyright R. N. Taber 2012; 2020

[Note: This poem first appears under the title ‘Out of Africa’ in the 7^th and (so far) last of my mixed general/ gay-interest collections, Tracking the Torchbearer by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2012; it was inspired by a Channel 4 ‘Despatches’ program, Africa, the Last Taboo, 2010, and is also repeated on my general poetry blog today.]

Branded

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

I am so fed-up with many religious minded people (not all, thank goodness since a significant minority manage to resist the usual brainwashing and reconcile their religious beliefs with open hearts and minds) telling me that same sex lovers are committing blasphemy.  For my own part, how can I blaspheme against something I don’t believe in?

Regular readers know my views only too well. Even if I were of a religious orientation, I cannot believe any God would condemn anyone for their sexuality. Moreover, my early interpretation of the New Testament (long before I was old enough to realise I am gay) is that Jesus, for one, would agree.

Besides, there are other things going on in the world that should give us all far greater concern than who sleeps with whom, not least the coronavirus pandemic.

Oh, but I so love this quote by Dr Seuss: 'Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.'

This poem is a villanelle.

BRANDED

Branding gay lovers blasphemers,
those wolves robed in sheep’s clothing
calling for world peace at prayers

How dare they judge us for sinners,
(relishing a holier-than-thou posturing)
branding gay lovers blasphemers?

Taking us for fools, many Believers
known to compromise on their fasting,
calling for world peace at prayers

No faith would make us its prisoners
or sacrifice us to some clerics' gathering
branding gay lovers blasphemers

Taking us for scapegoats, deceivers
failing to practise what they’re preaching,
calling for world peace at prayers

Last seen touting homemade blinkers,
courtesy of rhetoric well worth exploiting,
branding gay lovers blasphemers,
calling for world peace at prayers

Copyright R. N. Taber 2009

Loudmouth

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

Reading Between the Lines

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

Fort those readers who are less than happy about my carrying over some poems from my general poetry archives, here is a new one, written only a few days ago. I cannot expect everyone to like everything I write so feedback is really helpful. [Contact me any time at rogertab@aol.com with 'Poetry' in the subject field if you would like a reply or just leave a comment on the blog if you prefer to remain anonymous.]

Meanwhile...

Why is it so many people say one thing when they really mean another, often the complete opposite?A human trait throughout history, it is plainly one that political correctness encourages. It is so typical of many people when asked for a point of view that they try to suss out the questioner's standpoint first for fear of causing offence and/or being misunderstood and/or wrongly accused, and having to face consequences they do not deserve (or maybe they do...)

It would seem that honesty and free speech are among the first victims of any society whether supposedly democratic or otherwise. Yes, we need to care about each other, but not under false colours; in Romania, for example, LGBT communities have grown in recent years; it was named by Human Rights Watch as one of five countries in the world that have made "exemplary progress in combating rights abuses based on sexual orientation or gender identity. However, as we all know only too well, there can be no legislation for bad attitude.

I write this only hours after witnessing a so-called gay-friendly acquaintance I have known for years verbally abusing two young men for kissing in the street.I was walking on the other side, but could clearly see and hear the commotion opposite. When younger and fitter, I would have leapt to their defence, but the area is well-known for hate crime and the need for a walking stick in old age urges caution. Besides, the gay couple were clearly able to give as good as got even as they moved on from a small crowd that had started to gather, and was clearly not taking their side.

I went on my way, the sound of someone shouting, "Sickies, hell is too good for the likes of you!"

A phrase from Shakespeare's King Lear instantly sprung to mind, 'More sinned against than sinning.'

It will be interesting to hear what my longtime acquaintance has to say the next time we meet as I will not hold back from raising the subject...

READING BETWEEN THE LINES

There are many who will say

that being gay is a sin against humankind

and God

Humankind is judgemental

by nature, but does that fit in with a God

of Love?

There are many who will argue

that same sex relationships are unnatural

acts

According to whom, unnatural

as each to our own way of thinking, dogma

too?

There are many who (still) insist

it offends the eye to see two men or women

embrace

Oh, and why must any human eye

on embraces it finds offensive even go there

at all?

There is a majority who will agree

any words invoking LGBT images suggest ‘sick’

minds

Oh, and does a majority promote

healthy living in its rape of nature for capitalist

gratification?

There are few who support Equality

and Human Rights unconditionally, absolutely

no holds barred

Copyright R. N. Taber 2019

[Note: This post-poem also appears on my general poetry blog today.] RNT

An Affinity with the Spiritual Nature of Ancient Woodlands

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

I first published this poem on my general blog in 2015; while feedback suggests it proved popular with many readers, others clearly took issue with a gay man writing about spirituality, especially one who does not subscribe to any religion.Well, I am also a poet, and no less susceptible to the haunting atmosphere of ancient woodlands than anyone else. More than one reader said I should delete it, but it remains  there to this day. 

As for spirituality, why should we suppose that any religion has a monopoly on that? We are all, each and every one of us human, and a living spirit goes with the whole package; indeed, it shapes our lives , depending on how we envisage it which, in turn, affects how we use (or abuse) it. 

Regular readers will know that if I have any religion at all, it is nature, and I am inclined to think of myself as something of a pantheist. Nature has always stirred a spirituality in me as timeless as itself, invoking a sense of poetry I struggle to express if only because there are no words in any language that come close to explaining it. In general, we all appreciate explanations, if only because they help us to better understand; any lack of understanding leaves us feeling inept, uncertain, even fearful, and human nature does not tolerate any of these lightly. For many people, their religion and its dogma gives them an understanding of life to which they can relate, helps them to understand life, for all its complex web of truth and lies; it gives them self-confidence, and will see them through good times and bad.

Don't get me wrong. I am not having a go at religion, simply making the point that not subscribing to one (and/or being of an LGBT persuasion) does not make anyone a 'freak of nature' as I have been by called by as many a 'devout' person as the least devout.

AN AFFINITY WITH THE SPIRITUAL NATURE OF ANCIENT WOODLANDS

Leafy dome, a spread of crystal prisms;

like a familiar cheek deflecting its tears

Stained glassiness, images of a sunset;

pink flesh betraying shades of ageing

Moon, shining through, beacon of hope;

human spirit anxious for inspiration

Stars, drawing on mythology and religion

to engage the human mind’s potential

Clouds, siding with the world’s sceptics

shaping like endings to like beginnings

Dome, engaging with our metamorphoses,

inciting we creative dreamers to waken

Glassiness, flushed with dawn’s promises;

pink flesh, responding to nature’s kisses

Birdsong, like distant bells ringing changes;

humanity, left trailing old gods and new

Between earth and sky, our time and space;

to each of us, a prism (some call it Heaven)

Copyright R. N. Taber 2015

Where the Keyword is Imagine

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

Today’s poem was first published on my general poetry blog in 2012 and written as a tribute to musician John Lennon, shot dead outside his New York City apartment block by Mark David Chapman on Dec 8th 1980. I have been asked to publish it here today by 'Martin' "...because it has a resonance and meaning for everyone, as much today as at any time in the human calendar, if not more so..." Martin suggests I post it on social media - "...to bring it to the attention of a wider audience." - Well, what can I say but thank you, Martin. I no longer use social media so I hope this will suffice. (Any reader is welcome to post a link on social media to any poem on either of my poetry blogs they may particularly like (or dislike) so long as they always include the copyright proviso accompanying it. I left Facebook and Twitter after becoming so bored with trolls, but can easily delete/block any unwanted emails.)

'Imagine' was written and performed by Lennon. The best-selling single of his solo career, its lyrical statement is one of collectivist positivism. It challenges the listener to imagine a world at peace, without the divisiveness and barriers of religious denominations and nationalities, and to consider the possibility that the focus of humanity should be living a life less attached to material possessions.

Lennon’s wife, Yoko Ono scattered his ashes in New York's Central Park, where the Strawberry Fields memorial was later created

Photo: John Lennon Memorial

WHERE THE KEYWORD IS IMAGINE

The gospel of John Lennon

sees a testing time for dreams,

inspires the imagination

Politics needs urgent revision

to silence starvation’s screams;

the gospel of John Lennon

No mythicizing hell or heaven;

it’s repairing life’s frayed seams

inspires the imagination

No (one-upmanship) religion;

trusting that love all hate redeems;

the gospel of John Lennon

Where any cultural division,

mutual respect tempering extremes,

inspires the imagination

In a song for every season,

ideals as pure as mountain streams;

the gospel of John Lennon

inspires the imagination

 Copyright R. N. Taber 2012

[Note: First Published in 'In Other Words', Forward press, 2012]

When All's Said and Done OR L-o-v-e-, (Human) Rights of Way

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

This post/poem is repeated on my general blog.

Ignorance is a darkness from which we can only hope to be rescued by the dawning of enlightenment’ the irony being, that relatively few of us recognize ignorance when it is staring us in the face so will not accept that they need rescuing. My parents were of a generation brought up to believe the worst of same sex relationships, and passed these stereotypical sentiments on to me. I, hated the closet darkness imposed, but lacked a mentor to show me that these sentiments were simply untrue and I had no need to feel ashamed because I am gay. The dawn of enlightenment was a long time coming for me, and I did not come out to the world as a gay man until my mid-thirties.

The Department of Education here has finally seen the light too, and any school curriculum (from 2020) will need to include LGBT issues in a sensitive but realistic context of teaching education, even at primary school level. I would hate any child to go through what I went through so I applaud this step in the right direction. Sadly, many parents are demonstrating against this, at various school gates, on religious grounds.

One parent recently put it to me that it was wrong to put ideas into the heads of children “as young as five, for heaven’s sake!” My answer to that was “Never underestimate a child’s feelings or assume, as a parent, you know all you need to know about your own child. Even at 5 years-old, I loved dressing up and pretending I was a fairy or princess in a fairy tale. No, I did not grow up to be transgender, but I was - albeit unknowingly – touching base with sexuality; getting in touch with my feminine side would eventually help me understand that sexuality is not the prerogative of heterosexuals and, in time, would see me emerge as a gay man. The parent in question, insisted “that’s all very well, and I’m no homophobe, but what is a young child to make of being read stories around gender orientation or same sex relationships?”

I know lesbian and gay partners who have adopted children, not least to give them a loving, caring upbringing as opposed to the well-meaning but necessarily detached atmosphere of a Children’s Home. These children will go to school. One of the wonderful things about children is that they are entirely without prejudice…unless it has been passed on to them in the home. It is perfectly feasible that a five-year old with two mums or dads will be mixing with and chatting away with other children; the latter may well be fascinated, even excited to discover that such home situations exist. How sad then that ignorant parents are likely break up such friendships without giving them a chance to flourish. Some of my best childhood memories are of children with whom I used to play, including those from the only black family in our street; any adult prejudices simply went over our heads.

LGBT relationships have existed in societies worldwide since the beginning of time, albeit often behind closed doors; human nature, like nature itself, is – and deserves to be – an open door through which anyone is free to enter, regardless of culture, religion, ethnicity or sexuality.

‘How did it happen that their lips came together? How does it happen that birds sing, that snow melts, that the rose unfolds, that the dawn whitens behind the stark shapes of trees on the quivering summit of the hill? A kiss, and all was said. - ‘Victor Hugo (Les Miserables,1862)

“Veil after veil of thin dusky gauze is lifted, and by degrees the forms and colours of things are restored to them, and we watch the dawn remaking the world in its antique pattern.” 
- Oscar Wilde (The Picture of Dorian Gray. 1890)

This poem is a villanelle.

WHEN ALL’S SAID AND DONE or  L-O-V-E, (HUMAN) RIGHTS OF WAY

Home truths will have their say,

make themselves known,

enlighten us, come dawn of day

Where prejudices holding sway

in the name of (any) religion,

home truths will have their say

Listen, play deaf, come what may,

history will see its tides turn

enlighten us, come dawn of day

No God to whom Believers pray

would have cast the first stone;

home truths will have their say

Human rights, too, deserve a say,

to make themselves known,

enlighten us, come dawn of day

A God of Love has love hold sway

wherever its seeds be sown;

home truths will have their say,

enlighten us, come dawn of day

Copyright R. N. Taber, 2019