I have always tried to keep abreast of significant world events and record at least some of them in my poetry. As I compile e-editions of my collections - containing revised poems as they already appear on the blogs - I am adding any poems here that are not currently accessible and may be of interest.
On 19 March 2011, a multi-state NATO-led coalition began a military
intervention in Libya, ostensibly to
implement United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973, in response to
events during the Libyan Civil War.
Muammar
Gaddafi, the deposed leader of Libya, was captured and killed on 20 October
2011 during the Battle of Sirte. Gaddafi was found hiding in
a culvert west of Sirte and captured by National Transitional Council forces.
He was killed shortly afterwards.
The poem below was written as civil war raged in Libya, rebels losing ground to pro-Gadaffi forces...while the rest of the world debated whether or not to intervene; it appeared on the blog at the time, but was later removed due to lack of interest; it appears in my collection, the following year.
At the time, and being gay myself, I also posted the poem on my gay-interest poetry blog since LGBT Human Rights have long been repressed in Libya. Indeed, since the fall of Gaddafi's regime in 2011, the status regarding homosexuality in Libya remains unchanged. It is high time world societies and communities got real and came to terms with the fact that a common humanity embraces all human nature of which a person's sexuality is fundamental? LGBT folks mean no harm to anyone, deserve better than many stereotypes circulating for years suggest, and simply ask to get on with our lives in peace, just like anyone else.
RAINING
STONES
The cry
goes up for deliverance,
for
humanity’s sake,
from a
tyrant’s stony arrogance
Pride
plays Lord of the Dance,
(wheels
of diplomacy creak);
the cry
goes up for deliverance
Across
Libya, thousands chance
their
very lives to break
from a
tyrant’s stony arrogance
United
Nations looks on askance
(arguing
what action to take);
the cry
goes up for deliverance
Dare
justice make an appearance,
freedom’s
hold re-take
from a
tyrant’s stony arrogance?
Oil
politics drives Europe’s stance,
(U.S.
up for a stake);
the cry
goes up for deliverance
from a
tyrant’s stony arrogance
[London:
March 10th 2011]
Copyright R. N. Taber 2011
[Note: This poem appears in On the Battlefields of Love by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2010]
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