Hi everyone, from London UK
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber
Hi everyone from London UK,
No poem today but I’m working on one in between the usual
chores and hope to publish it here fairly soon. Nothing new here at all, really,
but whenever people email me, it is nearly always along much the same lines as this
prose post at attempts to cover.
A reader asks why I am revising many poems in the blog
archives whole not leaving the originals for readers to compare. Comparisons can
always be made with earlier versions that appear in my collections; to date,
only a limited number were ever published, but I hope to eventually make them all
available online. At the moment, I am struggling to put all unpublished poems
(including any revisions) on a memory stick just in case I get ill and cannot
press ahead with new collections, in which event my best friend, Graham, has
said that he will see to it that they are published; in the meantime, anyone
interested can always access any poem here or on my gay-interest poetry blog.
Another reader asks how on earth I manage to write
poetry at my age (75) and living alone with a pandemic raging. Well, as I have
said before, it is as much a form of creative therapy to take my mind off the
coronavirus threat as wanting to communicate my ideas and feelings to anyone
who may be interested.
I was a closet gay man for some years, before coming out to all and sundry in my 30’s so the motivation for a gay blog had always been there. Even in the western hemisphere there is still a lot of antipathy towards gay people, especially gay men, worse still if they are raised in any of the world religions. Religion, in the light of my own experience and experiences shared with LGBT folks around the world, from all manner of socio-cultural-religious backgrounds, has proven itself to be our worst enemy. Trying to rise above that and find our way in life can be really tough, especially where family and friends feel, for whatever reason, they cannot be supportive.#
Closets have to
be among the loneliest places on the planet and those trapped in them need to
know that they are not alone and there is nothing wrong or sinful about a
sexual orientation that does not conform to so-called social, moral or
religious conventions. We are born as we are. Asked if I would have chosen not
to be gay, I would probably answer ‘yes' - not because I am ashamed of my
sexuality, but because life would have been so much less complicated; dealing
with our own feelings can be hard enough (for anyone) but having to deal
with other people’s prejudices and misperceptions can prove a waking nightmare.
Poetry, of course, attempts to reach out to everyone;
as the poet climbs his or her own learning curve so the reader is invited to
follow their train of thought, not in any didactic sense but with a view to inviting
an understanding of viewpoints with which they many not be familiar and/ or
have been raised to believe are ‘unnatural.’ As I point out on the blogs so
often, we are each and every one of us, part of a common humanity; our
differences do not make us different, only human. Of course, there is good and
bad in most people and both deserve to be treated accordingly, but no one
deserves to be judged according to such common stereotypes as many people are
drawn to like magnets. I was raised a Christian, but the suggestion in the Holy
Bible - essentially common to any religious way of thinking – how we should be
aware that none of us are perfect, and before we judge and condemn others may do well do to take
a long, honest look at our inner selves; giving way to temptation, may well
deserve punishment, but being able to resist temptation doesn’t necessarily
make us a ‘better’ person, just stronger.
Tragically, many people continue to suffer in silence,
afraid of seeking support for fear of being judged, but I would recommend
self-help groups to anyone; the boost to self-esteem can be amazing, just for
being with people who share a common problem, and feel able to share those
feelings, freely and without embarrassment, on a common learning curve that
makes the problem so much easier to live with if not overcome completely.
Yes, you’ will have heard it all before, and I’m not anything new, so why are
there still so many closets in the world and so many
people feeling trapped in them, for whatever reason? Religion has no more a monopoly
on a sense of spirituality than some LGBT folks have a monopoly on closets. Choice
lies, not in what kind of closet we feel closing in on us, but how we find a way
out of it. Never easy, but always worth the effort…
Many thanks for dropping by,
Take care, and continue to nurture a positive-thinking
mindset, any slings and arrows of everyday life notwithstanding,
Hugs,
Roger
[Note: this post appears on both poetry blogs today.
Oh, and to those readers who have dipped into my fiction blog and asked for
more, I can only apologise for having no further fiction projects in mind. Glad
you found something to enjoy there.] RNT
Labels: common humanity, fear, global consciousness, human nature, human spirit, life forces, love, personal space, positive thinking, prejudices, religion, self-awareness, society, spirituality
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