A Poet's Blog: Roger N.Taber shares his thoughts & poems...

Thoughts and observations by English poet Roger N. Taber, a retired librarian and poet-novelist.- "Ethnicity, Religion, Gender, Sexuality ... these are but parts of a whole. It is the whole that counts." RNT [NB While I have no wish to create a social network, I will always reply to critical emails about my poetry. Contact: rogertab@aol.com].

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Location: London, United Kingdom

Sadly, a bad fall in 2012 has left me with a mobility problem, and being diagnosed with prostate cancer the same year hasn't helped, but I get out and about with my trusty walking stick as much as I can, take each day as it comes and try to keep looking on the bright(er) side of life. Many of my poems reflect the need to nurture a positive-thinking mindset whatever life throws at us.

Wednesday, 9 March 2016

Mind-Body-Spirit, Will and Testament


I, for one, am sick and tired of being told I’m in the wrong by people because I happen to disagree with them; called a sinner because I don’t comply with dogma according to a religion to which I don’t even subscribe; generally having various social, cultural, religious and political views rammed down my throat…

What is wrong with agreeing to differ? Why can’t people live and let live, respecting each other’s differences instead of berating, even punishing them for their refusal to be bullied or emotionally blackmailed into changing a particular point of view? I would say moral issues aside…but certain socio-cultural-religious and political parties seem to have little respect even for those except when it suits them.

All I can say is that, I, in turn, have no respect for bullies.

Meanwhile...

Although I reject immortality in any religious sense, regular reader will know that I often engage with the prospect of a posthumous consciousness in which we continue to play part in the lives of those on whom we have made an impression  - for better, for worse  (hopefully the former) - by way of word, deed, whatever...

This poem is a kenning.

MIND-BODY-SPIRIT, WILL AND TESTAMENT 

I ensure the greater inheritance
to which humankind is born, regardless
of station in life or place in the world’s
way of things that ticks away according
to how strong we are, how much
we earn or even how the heart may yearn
for a kinder way of living among its kin,
boxed up as we are, ticked off then sat on
to try and keep us down

I ensure the greater inheritance
to which humankind is born, finer spoils
of every persuasion under the sun
if it chooses to look, see, hear and, listen,
play the chameleon (as well it may)
since few people see with the inner eye,
hear with the inner ear, preoccupied
as they are with ritual and religion diverting
attention from the bigger picture

I ensure the greater inheritance
to which humankind is born whose tragedy
is a potential for greatness
beyond the riches of its sheikhs and kings,
tunnel vision of clerics insinuating
its personal space, claiming Squatters Rights
should anyone try to move them on,
any appearance of mutual negotiation
but paying lip service to reason

I am Mind-Body-Spirit, a creative ingenuity
redefining immortality

Copyright R N Taber, 2012, 2016

[Note: Revised (2019) from an earlier version under the title 'The Executor' in Tracking the Torchbearer by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2012.] 







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