A New Open Letter to Readers

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

A reader has complained about my poem, L-I-F-E, the many Faces of Love that I posted here here recently, suggesting that a gay themed poem has no place on a general poetry blog. Well, I make no apologies for it. 

A poem is a poem is a poem, whatever its content, just as a person is a person is a person, whatever their religious, political or sexual persuasion. Most of my LGBT-interest poems appear on my gay poetry blog, but now and then I wear my social-interest hat and post on both blogs, no offence to anyone intended. I am, after all, a gay man. (At 75 years-old, though, probably best described as asexual now.) 😉

Other readers have said they enjoyed the same poem, but ask why I revised both title and final couplet more than once. Well, what can I say. Apologies if I confused anyone. Titles are so important, being the reader's way into a poem. I was fairly pleased enough with the poem to post it here, but not quite; it took a couple of days to get the title right, and also come up with a closing couplet that I felt the poem deserved.

Yet another reader asks when I plan to publish another collection of poems. I have almost completed a collection that I hope to self-publish fairly soon and also submit to Google Books. Like many people who live on their own, and dealing with various health issues on a daily basis, I've found the Covid-19 emergency often leaves me feeling exhausted. Writing poems and publishing them to the blog is very therapeutic, but also very time-consuming, so the publication of my next collection -Addressing the Art of Being Human - is on hold for now. 

Why do I self-publish? Well no UK poetry publishers or literary agents that I've approached have shown any interest, not least because I include some gay-interest poems.. There is a gay section in all four of my previous collections; even so, they seem to issue well in various UK public libraries that stock copies.

I hope to give a poetry reading, probably in London, once my next collection is available. Sadly, the British Library no longer have a copy of my poetry reading on the 4th Plinth in Trafalgar Square as my contribution to sculptor Antony Gormley's One and Other project in 2009, although they hope to restore the whole project at a later date. Meanwhile, you can hear me read poems on You Tube although I have not added a clip for a long time:

 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSdhLgPQOsng2Xz8n5m0ViQ

Last, but not least, I would like to welcome any new readers and suggest they may like to explore the archives relating to any of my three blogs - general poetry, gay-interest poetry, fiction - accessible links on the right hand side of any blog page; access to my other blogs at the top left hand corner of any blog page.

Many thanks for visiting the blog and I hope you will find something to enjoy; a big thank you, too, to those readers who take the trouble to email me from time to time. I used to accept comments on the blogs but responding to trolls became very tiresome. 😉 (I don't subscribe to social media for the same reason.)

Take care, folks, and be sure to nurture a positive thinking mindset no matter what life throws at you, and thanks again for dropping by,

Hugs,

Roger

PS I hope to complete a new poem for posting here on Monday.