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.

Tuesday 5 November 2019

It's not so Different if you're Gay

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

This poem is from my gay-interest blog archives for March 2012. I confess I had reservations about carrying over some poems from one blog to another, but many readers seem to like it so I will continue, for now at least, especially as health problems (in my 70's now) mean I am not always feeling up to composing new poems. Archives are listed on and can be accessed from the right hand side of any page on this, my gay-interest (G-A-Y in the Subject Field) or fiction (Fiction in the Subject Field) blogs.

Straight and gay friends alike have told me how they thought they had found the love of their lives, only to discover that all he or she wanted was sex.

Now, I'm not knocking sex, but so many of us are in love with the idea of falling in love, and good sex can be very persuasive.  Love, though, now that's something else, and if sex was good before, love adds a whole new dimension and meaning; there is a whole lot more to love than good sex.

Love, loss, grief, pain, relief, happiness, joy...all are feelings common to everyone. I can only say (and should not need to) that...

IT’S NOT SO DIFFERENT IF YOU’RE GAY

Sunshine threw a veil across the sea,
keeping you from me
as we shared the heat of frantic kisses
in anxious embraces;
lithe limbs, every contour of your face,
I dared trace…
among the smouldering ashes of noon,
promises made at dawn

Against your body’s rhythmic heaving,
the poetry of leave-taking
exploded love’s bitter-sweetness in me
(myth v reality?);
Clouds, like exhausted lovers sprawled
on a water bed
turned to the mechanics of bland gesture
signifying bad weather

We put into harbour barely interacting
with each other,
you so distant, anxious to drop anchor
and dash ashore;
a storm broke, but unexpectedly mild,
like the tears of child,
for no better reason than a desire to cry
as did I…

There would be other lovers, other times,
and other poems;
more storms, too, I could be sure of that
and keep a look-out;
yet, if that day on the water played tricks
on me with sex
I took for love, I’d learned the hard way,
it’s no different if you’re gay
  
[From: On the Battlefields of Love by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2010]

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