Guest Speaker

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

Here is another poem that I came across as I work my way though my later print collections in order to (eventually) post revised editions of all my collections online; it does not appear elsewhere on the blog... (Earlier ones will be more time-consuming as I have since revised many of the poems,)  Oh, and anyone interested will also find 'new' poems on my gay-interest poetry blog.

At the time this poem was written, multiculturalism was still finding is way in the UK; although it has been an aspect of society here for years, a growing immigrant population, and a mixed media reaction to it, meant everyone began focusing on the issue with increasing intensity and - as often as not - increasing criticism.Thankfully, most people accept multiculturalism as part of everyday life, but it continues to have its critics, especially where various socio-cultural-religious issues are concerned.

Why, oh, why can't people simply agree to differ and enjoy a feisty debate without recourse to race or gender issues that are no more relevant to the modern world than dinosaurs?

This poem is a kenning or a "Who am I?" poem as the kenning is often called.

GUEST SPEAKER

I am relatively new

to the world’s societies

bent on testing me

to the limits of tolerance

towards a diversity

keen to embrace everyone,

regardless of race, sex

or creed if on its divisions

determined to feed

I dare have my say

in public places, Holy Books,

political manifestos,

though adults (as a rule)

less likely to grasp

what it is we’re getting at

than the child at school

asked what he or she thinks

life is all about

We have to live together,

which means more agreeing

to differ, if only to defuse

rising discontent with animosity

dished up by this culture

or that religion vying for priority

with precious little respect

for a common humanity

Engage with me, Multiculturalism,

expose any Politics of Separatism

Copyright R. N. Taber 2010

[Note: An earlier version of this poem appears under the title, 'Footnote to a Treatise on Abuse' in Tracking the Torchbearer, Assembly Books, 2012.]