tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63498167386831302152024-03-18T21:32:33.909+00:00A 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].R. N. Taberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18205524081367976564noreply@blogger.comBlogger1275125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349816738683130215.post-90007979183794522272024-03-17T13:15:00.014+00:002024-03-18T21:32:02.051+00:00The Old Curiosity Shop (and Slumping)<p><i><br /></i></p><p><i>From Roger’s friend,
Graham</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Browsing Roger’s blog postings offers interesting snapshots
through time. A shop of curiosities decked with gems formed in deep poetic musings, tattered postcards of conflicts and whimsical ephemera. Playthings of the imagination, broken
artifacts of childhood and sketches of zeitgeists vanished. Garlands of dried flowers
from summers past and evocations of smiling snowmen long melted. His inner eye
ever seeking out that glimmer of fascination in grey streets and overcast skies.
His beautiful soul always aspiring for a kinder, gentler world united by love
and not divided by oceans of tears.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I must admit that I’ve never met anyone like him before or
since. Such friendship is a treasure beyond riches. With the pressures and distractions
of life it’s easily to lose sight of that. Certainly it comes as an overwhelming
realization with the wound of loss. Healed by time, true enough, but some injuries
feel deep-rooted with a dull ache resonating through months and years. I’m sad that
I’m not able to call Roger today to compare notes on life’s ups and downs, make
each other laugh and take off into wild flights of fancy. Just here,
earthbound; trying to motivate myself…<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It’s raining lightly here in Essex on a Sunday morning. Quiet
with just the patter of rain and faint drone of distant traffic. A gaussian grey
veil masks the sun. Smudges of blue tease with notions of fairer weather. The wide
bow of the Thames estuary that I overlook reflects the sky like a dusty mirror.
Sluggish and lazy. Even the raucous black-headed gulls seem muted, pensive.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I’m fortunate that I don’t have to work on Sundays. I’ll
feed the birds shortly. (You’re never truly alone among avian friends.) And then a
riverside jog to restore flagging spirits and vitality. I’ll prepare a vegan
roast dinner, laze for a bit, and dive into the raging torrent of work emails! (This
mitigates the horror of my inbox at the start of a working week.) Finally, some
indulgent escapism with a movie and some un-milked chocolate.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I’ll leave you with a poem which I hope captures
Roger’s enduring rallying cry to ‘<i>rise
above!</i>’. Thanks so much for reading. Please feel free to dip in to Roger’s blog
and trust to serendipity whenever curiosity overtakes you…<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">*</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US"> </span>*
*<span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>‘Heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for
they are rain upon the blinding dust of earth, overlying our hard hearts.’</i> Charles Dickens (<i>Great Expectations</i>)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>‘The most important thing in life is to stop saying, ‘I
wish’ and start saying, ‘I will’. Consider nothing impossible, then treat
possibilities as probabilities.’ </i> Charles
Dickens (<i>David Copperfield</i>)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">*</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US"> </span>*
*<span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">SLUMP or
(ALMOST) IN FREEFALL…<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Slump in a
chair, thinking about life</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US">and all the people I’ve known,</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US">wondering where have they
gone?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Slump in a
chair, thinking about life</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US">and all the things I have
done,</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US">wondering where I went wrong?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Slump in a
chair, thinking about life</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US">and choices made from the
heart,</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US">wondering where fear played a
part?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Slump in a
chair, thinking about life</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US">and lovers who promised to
stay</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US">but left within hours of a
night or day<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Slump in a
chair, thinking about life</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US">and all the years wasted on
regret</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US">where I should have stood up
to fate<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Slump in a
chair, thinking about life</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US">and every epiphany I’ve known,</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US">wondering where did I go so
wrong?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Slump in a
chair, thinking about life</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US">and growing older, weaker,</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US">for knowing I could have done
better<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Slump in a
chair, thinking about death,</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US">and all the people I’ve known,</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US">wondering if there’s a hell or
heaven?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Slump in a
chair, watching television,</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US">soaking up soap opera friends,</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US">lost the plot, left wondering
how it ends<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Slump in a
chair, fret about being alone?</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US">Not this time (slam on the
brakes);</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US">will get my life back,
whatever it takes<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<i><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Copyright R N. Taber 2008</span></span></i>R. N. Taberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18205524081367976564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349816738683130215.post-42702304654623938832024-03-15T12:57:00.001+00:002024-03-15T12:57:45.550+00:00Spring, Lockdown and the Joy of Birds<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><i>From Graham – Roger’s close friend (and tipsy cameraman)<o:p></o:p></i></p><p class="MsoNormal">With the burgeoning of spring comes a renewed <i>joie de vivre</i>. As nature’s pulse quickens, sunlight streams into my small flat, warming the skin like Apollo’s sensual kiss. Outside an ensemble of sparrows sing their odes to joy as grey squirrels frolic in the sway of radiant daffodils.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">I descend three flights of stairs clutching a selection of nuts and grains. Awaiting me, in lofty foliage, an array beady eyes ogling me expectantly. An excited twitter erupts. Magpies cawing, pigeons cooing and the trills of sparrows. At the shrubbery I set out a bird-buffet. A squirrel scampers up to me and I throw him a husked peanut which he grasps like a trophy. He’s joined by a magpie, then a flurry of feeding to a stirring chorale of birdsong.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">I return to my apartment happier, elevated somehow... My daily ritual feels sacred and imbued with symbolism. Some traditions believe birds to be messengers of the divine. All I know is that the illusion of separation falls away and I’m at one with nature, the universe... Offline, but connected.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Roger and I discovered the sublime joys of bird-feeding during the Covid pandemic lockdown in 2020. He’d festoon his kitchen window ledge with breadcrumbs and be amused by the argy-bargy of gobbling pigeons. (London pigeons aren’t known for their social graces.)<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">We explored other avenues to alleviate those gloomy lockdown blues. Our daily ‘whinge-therapy’ phone sessions played a major role in maintaining both morale and sanity. (How I miss them.) I suspect Roger had a checklist of gripes which unerringly ended with a whodunnit. A gripping saga featuring Detective Inspector Taber - hot on the heels of a dastardly dumpster desperado abusing a recycling bin.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Then of course we were utterly enthralled by the enduring mystery of toilet roll shortages here in the UK. Panic buying - with toilet paper tumbling off supermarket shelves like roly-poly lemmings. Who was stockpiling and why - a conspiracy? Did coronavirus cause one to sprout an extra pair of buttocks? Or were there hordes of marauding bog-roll bandits wiping out supplies? Or was it being commandeered to mop-up the rising deluge of bullsh*t from a familiar Downing Street residence? A stream of consciousness is one thing - but this…!?<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Rog and I certainly let our wildest imaginings run riot.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Sorry, my preamble turned into a pre-ramble. I meant to offer an upbeat commentary on renewal and springtime but rather went off at a tangent! I enclose two of poems on a spring theme.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">* * *<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">NEVER GIVE UP ON SPRING<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Once there was a time<br />it seemed like winter every day,<br />only a watery sunshine<br />streaking a sky that’s leaden grey <br />life barely worth living,<br />past and present unforgiving,<br />catching me out<br />in what I took to be a loneliness<br />of old age as I’d read about<br />in novels, rarely taking notice,<br />forgetting the roots<br />of fiction lie in such harsh reality<br />as now had me in its grip,<br />leaving me to fret that only much<br />the same lay ahead, cruel<br />twist of fate by any other name,<br />delivering me into a spiral<br />of a leaden, grey depression wherein<br />I could see no hope of rescue<br />till into that shadowy place you came,<br />bringing light, warmth, and joy,<br />sending a long winter of the heart<br />into a feisty, overdue spring,<br />lending even its shadows a touch<br />of wry humour so alleviating<br />the burden of my distress that I could<br />make space for a happiness<br />of which neither age, sex, culture,<br />creed or sexuality may justly<br />claim a monopoly since everyone<br />has a right (fate?) to be as you<br />make me, finally (blissfully) content<br />to let unfriendly ghosts lie,<br />cease berating a rose for either its thorns<br />or the nurture of spring rain,<br />but dry my tears, and live, love, laugh,<br />feel young at heart again…<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Though society find a reason to mark<br />its gay lovers, be sure our season will long,<br />outlive theirs, and even when life<br />is a burden that’s grey and unforgiving,<br />never give up on spring<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i>Copyright R. N. Taber 2012</i></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal">* * *<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal">SPRING, RITES OF PASSAGE<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">As a new leaf on a sad oak,<br />find a mind-body-spirit regenerating<br />greener centuries</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">As new buds on a rose bush<br />find all animal senses coming on heat<br />after a wintry frost</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">As new petals on a daffodil,<br />find emotions rising above their flaws<br />on a robin’s wings</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">As driftwood on home shores,<br />find young potential needing to be put<br />to better use than this</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">As seeds on a southern wind,<br />find life forces placing time and space<br />on a learning curve</p><p class="MsoNormal">As pilgrims to raison d’être,<br />find ghosts dead set on helping us live.<br />let live, have a voice</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">As fairy tales to a child’s mind,<br />find ancient legends wringing metaphors<br />from contemporaneity</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">As singing wires to cloth ears,<br />find rebel green campaigners messaging<br />the Earth’s naysayers</p><p class="MsoNormal">As ashes to ashes, dust to dust<br />find art and science reading the last rites<br />over tablets of stone</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i>Copyright R N. Taber 2019. From an upcoming collection; Addressing the Art of Being Human.</i></p><p></p>R. N. Taberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18205524081367976564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349816738683130215.post-43524496851273198972024-03-11T11:11:00.003+00:002024-03-14T13:39:14.484+00:00Suggestions<p><i><o:p> </o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>From Graham – a close friend to Roger<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It’s only from space the full extent of Earth’s environmental
damage can be observed. Deforestation, receding glaciers, coastal inundation
and the advance of deserts. From the flattened horizon of a human perspective, few
witness the blanching of a coral reef or a river choked with plastic. The
devastation remains somehow abstract… deniable.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It’s difficult to deny global weather patterns are becoming
more anomalous and extreme. Or refute data that tells of rising average
temperatures and collapsing biodiversity.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Venus, our nearest planet, suffered the fate of runaway
atmospheric heating about 1 billion years ago when she still had surface
temperatures akin to earth. This calamitous build-up of greenhouse gasses created
a roiling inferno. A tormented celestial augur perhaps, foreshadowing the fate of her sister planet?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Just as our Earth’s marring is only framed in the bigger
picture, the solution too, must be holistic. Political elites must be pressured
to think pro-action over procrastination. Corporations must prioritise
preservation over profit. And even wealthy religious organisations might be
encouraged to save the planet rather than souls? They could even <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">get real</i> and recognise that their
impending Judgment Day-cum-Apocalypse will likely be man-made rather than
deity-designed. Surely this is the true existential crisis and moral imperative
for all to confront…?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The onus is also on individuals to<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> be the change</i> through the choices they make. Small personal
sacrifices for the greater good of our, and future generations. The cumulative
benefits of driving a vehicle less, eating less (or no) meat and dairy, and conscientious
consumerism should not be underestimated. The individual is not powerless to
affect change by boycotting businesses that despoil natural habitat or cruelly
exploit our fellow animals. Or to see beyond that acquisitional mindset fuelled
by sly advertising.<span style="color: #d9d9d9; mso-themecolor: background1; mso-themeshade: 217;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Oh, but of course, there’ll always be climate change deniers
- last seen at a Flat Earth Society meeting alongside creationist preachers and
conversion therapists…<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Roger loved this sun-kissed cradle of life we call Earth,
Gaia, Terre... ‘Earth Mother’ features widely in his nature poems and was his
foremost muse. He was captivated by her kaleidoscopic raiment in the ebb and
flow of seasons. He took practical steps to conserve our precious planet too. He
was ostensibly vegan and passionate about recycling – to the extent of policing
rubbish bins where he lived. He’d leave curt notes in communal areas for
offending parties who dumped non-recylcables in the green bin. And, believe me,
Roger knew how to lambast even the most shameless slattern or slob!<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When Rog was more mobile we enjoyed many a stroll on
Hampstead Heath; communing with mother nature, imbibing ambrosial scents of wild,
iridescent flora and savouring heavenly birdsong. Sometimes (pre-vegan days)
we’d enjoy an ice cream and trace meandering lakeside tracks among coruscating
sunbeams. We’d invariably climb Parliament Hill and gaze down on London’s sprawling
cityscape then dive into a cosy pub. The Heath was Roger’s sanctuary and
connection to his beloved Earth Mother.</p><p class="MsoNormal">This next poem of Roger’s appears in <i>Accomplices To
Illusion</i>, 2007. I find it provocative.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i>‘</i><i>The fact is that no species has ever had such wholesale control over everything on earth, living or dead, as we now have. That lays upon us, whether we like it or not, an awesome responsibility. In our hands now lies not only our own future, but that of all other living creatures with whom we share the earth.’ </i>David Attenborough</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i>‘Anyone who believes in indefinite growth on a physically finite planet is either mad or an economist’ </i>David Attenborough</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">* <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>*<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>*<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">SUGGESTIONS<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They suggest we try and save garden creatures<br />
and ocean whales before it’s too late<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They suggest our luxury choices are sure to leave <br />
the generation of 3000 with none <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They suggest parents are scared of their children<br />
and raising monsters<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They suggest religious leaders pay more attention<br />
to compassion than division<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They suggest politicians aren’t listening to those <br />
who put them there<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They suggest our multicultural societies are failing<br />
themselves and each other<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They suggest we start learning the lessons wars <br />
should have taught us<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They suggest we’re but living will and testament <br />
of a dying planet<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So who are they, daring to suggest humankind look<br />
to its shortcomings?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Among leafy choirs, anxious waves, nature rehearses<br />
this world’s passing<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Copyright R. N.
Taber 2008<br /></span></i>[Note: Revised (2008) from the original poem as it appears
in <i>Accomplices To Illusion</i>, 2007.]</p>R. N. Taberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18205524081367976564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349816738683130215.post-14864060585312551692024-03-04T00:00:00.014+00:002024-03-05T22:33:36.525+00:00Freedom, Beacon of Hope in a Darkening World<p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i> </i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i>From Graham – a close friend to Roger<o:p></o:p></i></p><p class="MsoNormal">Today marks a year since Roger passed away. It seems almost
surreal how quickly this anniversary has arrived. A mutual friend, Richard,
suggested we celebrate his memory at a friendly bar; recounting those joyous,
life-affirming times when Roger lit up the room with his sparkling insight, his
bawdy humour, or his fiery polemic. But I opted to explore remembrance through
contemplation and sharing a few thoughts. Reflecting upon someone who remains close
to the heart is a personal journey with many pathways...<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Rog often commented on global events, particularly
conflict and oppression. His poems frequently speak of a ‘common humanity’ transcending
the gulf of socio-cultural-religious division. They aspire to those sublime qualities
of being human; compassion, empathy and agape. A universal-spiritual connection
too often lost in clamour of partisan media, sacrificed by religious fundamentalism,
or obscured by sectarian hate. Yet this interconnection endures in anyone who
dares question the dogma of division. It’s not through naive idealism that
Roger wrote of peace and common humanity. But rather, to inspire hope in
himself and others.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">I know Roger would have been saddened by the recent anti-LGBT+
bill passed in Ghana. He was an outspoken advocate for equality in all
societies. In his eulogy, I commented:<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i>‘…beyond friends
gathered here, Roger touched untold lives through his poetry. It was telling
that his gay-interest blog was widely read in countries where the freedom to
choose who we love can mean imprisonment. His poetry kindled hope in the
world’s unenlightened places.’<o:p></o:p></i></p><p class="MsoNormal">Over the years we chatted extensively about my sabbatical in
Ghana, back in 2006. At the time, I remember optimism among my gay brothers and
sisters for attaining equal rights. There was hope that the egalitarian
republic envisioned by Kwame Nkrumah would finally be realised for <i>all</i>
citizens. But forward to 2022 and New Patriotic Party lawmakers are consulting
with pastors, priests and imams to decide policy (?!). UN condemnation aside,
it sets a dangerous precedent, and one where parliamentarians appear hellbent
on a downward spiral into theocracy.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">I wonder how Roger might have commented about this on his
blog? Speculatively, I’d say he might draw comparisons with his own experience
of anti-LGBT laws here in the UK. An era when he lived in constant fear of persecution,
blackmail and violence. Recounting, perhaps, his clandestine intimacies before the law’s repeal in
1967. He once described society back then as an ‘ogre’. He might have also cited
the life of mathematical visionary and national hero, Alan Turing. A man driven
to suicide following prosecution and public exposure for a same-sex encounter. I
think he’d question how such laws serve any national interest - or greater good?<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Our sense of nationhood is often forged in the crucible of resisting
oppression. Whether it’s overcoming colonial rule, women’s suffrage or the
struggle for gay equality. Liberty itself flows from faith in a common
humanity. Solidarity, over the politics of division and demonisation. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i>‘The forces that unite us are intrinsic and greater than
the superimposed influences that keep us apart.’</i> Kwame Nkrumah<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">* * *<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">FREEDOM, BEACON OF HOPE IN A DARKENING WORLD<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">In some parts of
the world,<br />
all paths to Freedom are (still) blocked<br />
by power-hungry rulers<br />
living in the lap of luxury where others<br />
go hungry, and can but dream<br />
of running fresh, clean, water from a tap<br />
that’s close to hand<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">In some parts of
the world,<br />
all paths to Freedom are (still) haunted<br />
by fighters who lost battles,<br />
but inspired others to continue the war<br />
against the sickest corruption<br />
in the highest places, best feet forward<br />
to global markets<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">In some parts of
the world,<br />
all paths to Freedom (still) ringing out<br />
loud and clear with howls<br />
of protest punctuated with the shrapnel,<br />
gunfire, and tear gas<br />
that, oh, so often accompanies integrity<br />
even in a 21st century<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">In some parts of
the world,<br />
all paths to Freedom are (still) littered<br />
with human bones,<br />
occasionally with name tags attached,<br />
others are identified only<br />
by such natural categories as ethnicity<br />
and, yes, sexuality<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">In some part of the
world,<br />
all paths to Freedom are (still) haunted<br />
by voices of the dead,<br />
inspiring men, women, and children<br />
to take greater pride<br />
than many so-called ‘betters’ in rallying<br />
round a flag with pride<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">In some parts of
the world,<br />
heterosexuality is promoted true enough<br />
to hot-blooded stereotype,<br />
some falling for the honeyed-up hype<br />
of tongues, sly and zealous,<br />
while others continue to call for a culture<br />
of Freedom for all of us <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><i>Copyright R. N.
Taber 2014; 2020<o:p></o:p></i></p><p></p>R. N. Taberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18205524081367976564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349816738683130215.post-42303624219741819582023-12-31T19:02:00.013+00:002024-01-01T15:46:14.670+00:00A Farewell<p><span> </span></p><p><span><b>Roger Noel Taber<br /></b>21 December 1945 - 2 March 2023<br /><i><br />Foreword from Graham Collett (a close friend)<br /></i><br />I’m very sorry to let you all know that, tragically, Roger passed away earlier this year after battling a long period of acute illness. Despite the excellent care he received at the Whittington, and latterly, Barnet Hospital ICU’s, his lifeforce finally took flight into that great beyond…<br /><br />Many of Roger’s close friends kindly visited him over those preceding weeks in intensive care. Despite his heavy sedation, we took turns to read poetry and short stories at his bedside, and hold his hand. I believe we all nurtured hope in his recovery.<br /></span><br />I feel privileged to have shared a close friendship with Roger over 22 years. Through triumph and disaster he’s been there for me. Across this odyssey of time-space we call ‘life’ he’s been a guiding light. I’m still reconciling myself to a new, bleaker reality and feeling rather adrift. Though it’s a voyage illuminated by the glimmer of treasured memories. Such is bereavement for many of us I imagine…</p><p><br />To say that we only recognise the true value of something after it’s lost… well, it seems so trite; a truism even…? But it’s also an inexorable aspect to existence which tests us all in the end. All the more reason to ‘rise above’ as Roger encouraged us; <i>carpe diem</i>.<br /><br />As an advocate for pantheist principles and nature, I hope readers will draw comfort from the notion of Roger returning to the bosom of Earth Mother... Death is but a part of that universal cycle of creation, dissolution and then, rebirth. I also hope that his beautiful poetry will continue to inspire and resonate with you all.<br /><br />I aim to post Roger’s unpublished poetry on the blogs occasionally - mainly to maintain their presence online. Please bear with me on this as I have a high pressure job and little free time! Further along, I also hope to publish (either in print or eBook) <i>Addressing the Art of Being Human</i>, a collection spanning 2020.<br /><br />I will leave you with a poem I chanced upon from Roger’s extensive archive.<br /><br />Best wishes to all for 2024.<br />Peace, Graham x</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span>FAREWELL<br /></span><br />Think not that I am gone,<br />but please think this of me;<br />that once was a man<br />who so wanted to be good,<br />but sadly was not always<br />one who never, ever, meant<br />to be bad if sometimes<br />blindness took him this way;<br />who rose above bigotry<br />to embrace a born sexuality<br />in poetry driven, inspired<br />by sheer spirituality, nurtured<br />not by word or world,<br />only Earth Mother to whom<br />I was born, and now return<br />much like last autumn’s kiss,<br />promising this to all whom<br />I have loved, will surely miss,<br />and bequeath to birdsong<br /><br />Oh, but watch and listen<br />for spring, that any winters<br />of our parting may seem<br />less harsh nor so long if only<br />for robins celebrating us,<br />and though this sorry world<br />weep as it surely will<br />for an elusive love and peace,<br />I feel privileged to rest<br />where doves can but create<br />metaphor<br /><br />There, where you are...<br /><br /><i>Copyright R. N. Taber 2011</i></p>R. N. Taberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18205524081367976564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349816738683130215.post-38336498030837595912023-01-21T10:01:00.000+00:002023-01-21T10:01:31.621+00:00A Walk in the Park<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber</a><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“We are not victims of aging, sickness and death. These are part of scenery, not the seer, who is immune to any form of change. This seer is the spirit, the expression of eternal being.” - </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Deepak Chopra</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen.” – Leonardo da Vinci</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Poetry is a deal of joy and pain and wonder, with a dash of the dictionary.” - Khalil Gibran</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“We do not see nature with our eyes, but with our understandings and our hearts.” William </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hazlitt</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Forever is composed of Nows.” – Emily Dickinson</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Even as a child, I loved being at the heart of nature, not only for its surrounding, but also for the responses to it by mind-body-spirit, communicating sounds and poetry it would be years before I would even begin to define it as a sense of spirituality; years, too, before I felt able to go public with it through poetry. </span></p><p>As my dear mother used to say, learning curves are not confined to the classroom...</p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">A WALK IN THE PARK</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Taking a long walk<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">in the park, sky many shades<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">in many moods,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">spots of rain urging me pause<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">by a favourite tree<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">playing host to feathered friends<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">bidding me see-hear-listen,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">let the indomitable Spirit of Nature<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">address past-present-future</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Becoming more aware<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">of a Here-and-Now beyond <br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">rain and cloudy skies,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">a part of me opening up, not only<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">to what it could see<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">but to feelings, asking questions<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">of heart-and-soul<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">it had not thought of asking,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">confused by worldly turns of thought,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">all but become a habit</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Life is for all, no exceptions,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">though we are sometimes made <br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">to feel we don’t deserve<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">a voice, simply for nurturing<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">visions of self-identity <br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">considered ill-suited to this society,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">or that community,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">for fear of any bullying powers that be;<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">none so blind as will not see </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Having listened to all the tree<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">had to say by way of putting lyrics<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">to the music in my head,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">heart-and-soul's reawakened,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">already reworking<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">its approach to everyday living,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">less of simply tagging along <br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">for the ride, up for restating its position;<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">such is...the art of being human</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ah, but time to go home, hopefully share<br /></span>all I have yet to make sense of here...</p><p><i style="font-family: inherit;">Copyright R. N. Taber (2023)</i></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">[Note: This poem also appears on my gay poetry blog today.] RT</span></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>R. N. Taberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18205524081367976564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349816738683130215.post-8405340408884842462023-01-18T19:17:00.000+00:002023-01-18T19:17:30.679+00:00Hello, folks, from London UK<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber</a><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Art hurts. Art urges voyages – and it is easier to stay at home.” ~Gwendolyn Brooks</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen.” - Leonardo da Vinci</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words.” - Robert Frost </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“How do poems grow? They grow out of your life. “– Robert Penn Warren</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hello, Everyone, from London UK,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Reader G H has emailed to ask if the personal pronoun ‘I’ in my poems is yours truly. Well, the answer is both yes and no. The ‘I’ is multiple voices, including mine.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Over the years, I have met many inspiring people, had inspirational tales related to me by probably as many strangers I’ve met in passing as family and friends. Much of what I have learned, I try to pass on to readers, hence a multi-vocal ‘I’.I daresay much the same can be said for the authors of all art forms.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Feedback suggests that readers are happy with this, and can see how it fits in with the multidimensional nature of what I am trying to say in many poems. Hopefully, I succeed more often than I fail; in either case, it often depends as much upon whether or not the reader can relate to a poem at the time as the poet’s ability to draw the reader <i>into </i>a poem and let him or her work through and arrive at their own take on it. Needless to say, how they finally relate to it, if at all, the poet will probably never know…</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">The natural world is a constant inspiration to us all, of course, especially to the gardener who has a special relationship with nature I have always admired, even envied. More than one gardener has told me how they so look forward to spring, seeing leaves return to the trees and listening to what they have to say as they rustle in a breeze or survive a storm. Oh, yes, there is a poet in everyone...</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Do feel free to email me – rogertab@aol.com - any time. I try to reply or at least acknowledge as many as possible, but only read those with ‘POETRY’ in the subject field. Sometimes, I am feeling unwell and manage to hit a wrong key, whereupon emails disappear, so apologies to anyone expecting a reply, but has not received one. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">As regular readers well know, years of hormone therapy for my prostate cancer has played merry hell with my thought processes and general memory, so I am not as comfortable with new technology as I once was, not to mention that I can't always <i>see</i> the letters on a my p c keyboard too well these days either. 😉</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Can you wonder that I sometimes struggle to keep looking on the bright(er) side of life?😉 Ah, but the struggle always brings its own reward...😁</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Take care, folks, keep safe and stay positive,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Many thanks for dropping by and I hope to be back with a new poem soon,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hugs,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Roger </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>“</p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>R. N. Taberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18205524081367976564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349816738683130215.post-28433945377008487802023-01-17T17:13:00.000+00:002023-01-17T17:13:41.012+00:00Self-Belief OR Destination, Otherworld<p><a href=" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber"> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber</a><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“The worst loneliness is to not be comfortable with yourself.” - Mark Twain</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“The greatest thing in the world is to know how to belong to oneself.” - ― Michel de Montaigne</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are.”- Marilyn Monroe</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“One of the greatest regrets in life is being what others would want you to be, rather than being yourself.” - Shannon L. Alder</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Until you value yourself, you won't value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it.” - M. Scott Peck </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Be faithful to that which exists within yourself.” - Andre Gide</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“People may flatter themselves just as much by thinking that their faults are always present to other people's minds, as if they believe that the world is always contemplating their individual charms and virtues.” - Elizabeth Gaskell</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Foe a variety of reasons, many of us suffer with low self-esteem, sometimes all our lives. I have to admit to being one of the, although I have made real progress over the years in rising above such feelings. Born and raised during the bigoted 1950’s, I was made to feel an inferior person from the time I realised I am gay, at the age of 14. Regular readers will know that I spent years in a lonely closet, rarely confiding in anyone that I was gay until ‘coming out’ to the world in my late 30’s.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Noe was my lack of self-esteem due solely to a rampant homophobia. I am not a very practical person, but found myself in a Technical High School which specialised in practical subjects like woodwork, metalwork, and technical drawing, at all of which I was next to useless and would make the kind of errors that inevitably caught a teacher’s eye; they would, in turn, bring it to the attention of the whole class. Oh, I would laugh it off, but inwardly feel positively sick.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">As regular readers will also know, I had a poo relationship with my father, constantly having a go at me for “having my head in a book’ and making me feel a lesser person for that, especially as compared with my older brother who was practical, sporty and all the things my father expected of a son. Rightly or wrongly, I felt psychologically bullied and hadn’t yet learned to effectively stand up for myself without provoking an almighty row.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">We are who we are and should not feel a need to justify how we identify ourselves to anyone. Being made - intentionally or otherwise - to feel less of a person by anyone, especially during our formative years or in the workplace, wherever … it can take years, if ever, to shake off a sense of inferiority.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">I feel a greater sense of freedom these days, having learned mu lessons the hard way but cannot help wishing I had especially come across the Elizabeth Gaskell quote (above) during my younger years as a bookworm. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">SELF-BELIEF <u>or</u> DESTINATION, OTHERWORLD</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Being told this, told that,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">and failing to achieve a good result,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">gave mind-body-spirit<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">a sense of falling apart, being unequal<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">to perspectives on me<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">I couldn’t work through or begin to share<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">however hard I’d try,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">until I started listening to that voice within<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">reminding me I'm my own person</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">All but persuaded to find<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">my own way in a world confusing me<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">every step I’d take,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">urging I do this or maybe rather do that<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">to get anywhere,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">be the Someone those expecting far more<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">of me may rest assured<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">that, if only I’d listened to all they had to say,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">I’d have chosen to go a ‘better’ way</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Time and again I’d feel lost,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">unsuited and confused by worldly ways<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">others fell into with ease,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">until I stumbled on home truths no-one<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">had led me to believe,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">till mind-body-spirit made time and space<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">to replace the 'me'<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">I'd see through other eyes with my very own,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">no less from without as from within</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">I saw a world judging me neither sinner nor fool,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">made my peace with heart-and-soul </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Copyright R. N. Taber, 2023</i></span></p><p>[Note: This post-poem also appears on my gay-poetry blog today.] RT</p>R. N. Taberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18205524081367976564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349816738683130215.post-37762550219708852342023-01-15T12:47:00.000+00:002023-01-15T12:47:14.663+00:00Hi, Everyone, from London UK<p>Hi, Everyone, from London UK,</p><p>Sorry, no poem today as I am trying to load as many of my poems to a memory stick as I can, just in case the blog ever disappears.</p><p>In the past, UK poetry publishers have shown no interest in me because I make it clear that any published collection must include a gay section. My self-published collections proved popular, but the last one appeared in 2021' since then, I have been diagnosed with prostate cancer, had a bad fall that has left me with mobility problems and have been having to cope while living on my own. I cope OK(ish), so no worries, but nothing gets easier as we grow older and I'm in my late 70's now.</p><p>As I have said on the blog before, in latter years, writing poetry has been as much by way of creative therapy than for pleasure; it helps me manage thought processes and memory problems as a direct result of years of hormone therapy for my prostate cancer. So, I feel a need to write what I can, while I can and keep my poems in a safe place in case any publishers eventually show any real interest once I have passed away.</p><p>No one has ever appreciated just how much my poetry means to me and, yet again, a BIG thank you to you all, dear readers, for encouraging me by viewing my poems and sending emails from time to time.</p><p>Reader H H asks how many views this blog has had in total since I started writing it up about ten years ago. Currently, blogger statistics show 213,149 views; for a poetry blog, this is VERY encouraging, so you can understand why continuing it is so important to an oldie like me, from both a psychological and health point of view. The gay poetry blog statistics show a total of 160, 987 views, again, very encouraging.</p><p>Feedback suggests that more LGBT viewers dip into both blogs these days and I like to think it is because they are coming round to the point of view that poetry is for<i> everyone</i>, has something to say to <i>everyone</i>, intent on voicing a perspective on which the reader is invited to consider his or her own take. Whatever, food for thought is important; sadly, the pace of life these days means fewer people can make time enough for even that. </p><p>When I stared blogging, I had been warned that a gay poetry blog would be unlikely to attract many readers and I was unable to find anything similar online, so...G-AY in the Subject Field took to pc screens worldwide. My having been sexually inactive for some years now, it may have lost its initial momentum, but feedback suggests LGBT readers appreciate the encouragement my poems try to offer. (I spent too many years in a lonely closet to want the same for anyone who is led to believe there is something shameful, even sinful about sexual/ gender identity; neither is a choice, but who we are. </p><p>It is a tragedy of our times that some family members, friends and religious communities continue to be guided by many misleading stereotypes propagated by the less enlightened. </p><p>Nor is the sense of spirituality I have always felt any the less for my being gay. Encouragingly, most young people are more prepared to take others as they find them, without prejudging them for what they may have heard on this or that grapevine. (I suspect political correctness means well, but has proven far less effective than intended;. You cannot effectively legislate for a person's perspectives on life and people; it simply creates closets for any that need to be aired, challenged and modified. </p><p>As for poetry, whether people like a poem or not is less important than they should consider how and why they feel about what it it has to say to the voice in which the poem speaks. (As regular readers well know, I have always championed the right to agree to differ...] RT 😉 </p><p>We are barely into 2023, yet violent criminal acts on the streets and behind closed doors are hitting the headlines already .Let us hope that Peace, Love and Understanding will eventually prevail worldwide, the darker side of human nature notwithstanding....!</p><p>Oh, and on the subject if headlines, I have been asked what I think of Prince Harry's revelations in his book, <i>Spare</i>. Well, I have no interest in reading it, not least because it is unlikely that other members of the Royal Family will respond and there are always two sides to every story. So, to coin a popular phrase, "No comment." 😉</p><p>I am working on a new poem, but slowly as I am not too well and old age is catching up with me. No point in crying over spilt milk, though so, yes, I continue to do my best to keep looking on the bright(er) side of life... even though a fog sometimes.😉</p><p>Take care, folks, keep safe and stay positive,</p><p>Hopefully, back soon with a new poem,</p><p>Hugs,</p><p>Roger</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>R. N. Taberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18205524081367976564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349816738683130215.post-13797345778208109292023-01-10T10:47:00.003+00:002023-01-12T10:32:09.439+00:00Partners for Life<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber</a><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“The great thing about getting older is that you become much more mellow. Things aren’t as much black and white and you become much more tolerant. You can see the good things much more easily… “ - Maeve Binchy </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Aging is not uncomplicated. Creativity is an extraordinary help against destructive demons.” - </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ingmar Bergman</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“We are not victims of aging, sickness and death. These are part of scenery, not the seer, who is immune to any form of change. This seer is the spirit, the expression of eternal being.” - </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Deepak Chopra</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“The ordinary experiences of aging alter and clarify your view of past, present, and future.” - </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Edith Pearlman</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Now, many if not most of us have to cope with various health issues as we grow old(er). Never easy. The trick is not to let it obscure our perspective on the bright(er) side of life, especially as it is reflected in the kinder side of human nature</span></p><p>PARTNERS FOR LIFE</p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Growing old,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">quality of life much the poorer<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">just for that, barely <br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">in touch with a mind-body-spirit<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">often losing its way<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">among mixed feelings forever open<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">to misinterpretation,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">of positive thoughts persistently overtaken<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">by naggings of disillusion?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Looking back<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">over some shadowy shoulder<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">at inspiring dreams<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">left unfulfilled like litter on the streets<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">where I have lived,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">expecting more of a Here-and-Now<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">than it was able to give,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">left wondering what Time may yet yield me<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">other than... a lonely eternity?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Alternative voices,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">familiar enough to any heart-and-soul<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">having had to rise above<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">such negative thoughts as sure to haunt<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">even a positive thinker<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">whenever life take a turn for the worse,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">(as often as not)<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">tasking us with the greater art of being human,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">in starting over, yes, yet again</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Oh, mind-and body!<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">unable to win through, but for letting in<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">and partnering a native spirit<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">defying description, invariably taking its cue<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">from a natural world<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">no less under threat than a heart-and-soul<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">continuing to be inspired,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">forever working through stages of regeneration;<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">come mind-body-spirit, in unison.</span></p><p><i style="font-family: inherit;">Copyright R. N. Taber, 2023</i></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">[Note: I have been very unwell, but working on another post-poem has contributed, in no small measure, to my starting to feel a lot better and more positive about looking on the bright(er) side of life...😉 Oh, and I hope some of you will have enjoyed browsing the post-poems in the blog archives during my absence, and will continue to do so.] RT</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><div><br /></div>R. N. Taberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18205524081367976564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349816738683130215.post-8697045089828025602023-01-03T09:48:00.001+00:002023-01-12T10:34:32.606+00:00Spelling it Out<p><a href=" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber"> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber</a><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Albert Einstein </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“The world helps you to keep evolving and hope it's for better. You have to rise above all the tragedies in life. You have to grow, and if you stop growing, you are old.” - Hrithik Roshan“</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light.”- Helen Keller </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Winter is a season of recovery and preparation.” - Paul Theroux </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.” ― Maya Angelou</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Now, after all the fun and fireworks, the early days of any new year can become daunting as we place our hopes in what lies ahead, no idea whether or not we will see them fulfilled, fail in the attempt or be outwitted by forces beyond our control…? A scary prospect. The more we contemplate a whole new year ahead, so excitement and enthusiasm may well give way to a mind-body-spirit likely to leave us less able to think straight than the worst hangover ever. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">So…? We may well need help. We may well need a sounding board. We may well need a good friend (who knows us well) to confide in and help our more positive thoughts to find a voice, give us feedback, help us through the hangover into whatever it takes to help us confront, make sense of and (eventually) rise above whatever is gnawing away at us…</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">SPELLING IT OUT</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Old year done and dusted,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">another to get through, for better<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">or worse, as we can but try <br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">to keep looking on the bright(er) side<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">of life, whatever challenges<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">invading our personal space demand<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">we meet them head-on, <br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">resolve to tackle each as best we can,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">bring out the best of being human</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">We can wish our cares away<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">to no avail, side-step, put on hold<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">our worst fears in vain,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">inevitably have them catch us out<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">when we are least prepared<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">for not having thought them through,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">shared our feelings with a friend,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">sought more than a shoulder to cry on,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">called on the best of being human</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Every worry, every sadness<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">needs to find a voice, similarly<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">every voice needs someone<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">to listen to what it has to say, hear<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">what lies beyond the words,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">help us to understand our world,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">(even make it a kinder place?)<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">bring such inspiration to personal space<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">as lets heart-and-soul set the pace</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Another year of spelling out You-Me-Us;<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">keywords: patience, peace, happiness</span></p><p><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Copyright R. N. Taber 2023</span></i></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">[Note: This post-poem also appears on my gay poetry blog today, given that feedback continues to suggest that many LGBT readers remain inclined to give this one a miss.] RT</span></p><p> </p>R. N. Taberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18205524081367976564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349816738683130215.post-35364972406605970502022-12-30T11:08:00.001+00:002023-01-12T11:08:37.115+00:00Shades of Grey<p><a href=" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber</span></a></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Modern man talks of a battle with nature, forgetting that, if he won the battle, he would find himself on the losing side.” - E. F. Schumacher</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“One of the first conditions of happiness is that the link between Man and Nature shall not be broken.” - Leo Tolstoy </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“The best friend on earth of man is the tree: When we use the tree respectfully and economically, we have one of the greatest resources of the earth.”- Frank Lloyd Wright</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Nature's music is never over; her silences are pauses, not conclusions.” - Mary Webb</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Now, tomorrow will see us mark the end of 2022, each in our own way. Across the world, people will be coming together to celebrate New Year’s Eve; a veritable feast of music, dance, relief at having survived another year and hope that the next will, indeed, be a happy one. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">We can, each and every one of us, only do our best to see our hopes fulfilled, subject though all of us are to circumstances beyond our control. All the more reason though, surely, to enjoy the Here-and Now, let it fill our lives with bright colours and inspiring sounds which, though they fade, even die, they, and the person they encouraged us to be, live on in every mind-body-spirit, heart-and-soul, they ever touched.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Oh, and again, many thanks for dropping by, much appreciated, and I hope you will join me again soon for my first post-poem of 2023… assuming that I can continue to rise above - if not quite get the better of - the mess in which ten years of hormone therapy for my prostate cancer have left my thought processes.😉</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">SHADES OF GREY</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">The world around me,<br />various shades of grey, a sad, <br />often lonely place…<br />Apollo having all but taken <br />his leave of us, trusting <br />we’ll manage gloomy days <br />as best we can, <br />let mind-body-spirit aid and abet us<br />in making wiser choices </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Weary, a natural world<br />sick of human nature abusing it<br />in the name of ‘progress’<br />without taking bold steps enough<br />to ensure its past-present<br />may yet anticipate a kinder future<br />than marks its pages,<br />colours its history, common humanity<br />but a chancer’s reality</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Shades of green and gold<br />courtesy of Apollo’s rays of hope,<br />a brave one-upmanship<br />taking its cue from any You-Me-Us <br />that haunts the history<br />of a humankind trying to find its way<br />through multiple shades <br />of blue-green-gold urging we'll get wise<br />to its potential demise</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Though we suffer its every shade of grey,<br />trust heart-and-soul to save the day</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span>Copyright R. N. Taber 2022</span></i><span><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>[Note: This poet-poem also appears on my gay poetry blog toda</span><i>y.</i><span>] RT</span></span></p><p><br /></p>R. N. Taberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18205524081367976564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349816738683130215.post-5488114192714401902022-12-27T12:11:00.001+00:002022-12-27T12:14:23.888+00:00Starting Over<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber</a><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.” – Henry David Thoreau</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“The mind is its own place and in itself can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.” – John Milton</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell.” - Buddha</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Now, overheard in a supermarket on Christmas Eve:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">1st Person: “I so love this time of year. It’s so good to unwind, but it’s over too soon, and where are we then? I mean, where’s the excitement, the fun, in a whole new year stretching ahead that’s likely to stress us out all over again?”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">2nd Person: “Life is what you make it. For my part, I love the feeling of starting all over again and being given the chance to put a few things right and be happy again. I can’t explain it, but it’s not a bad feeling, quite the opposite…”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">I <i>so</i> empathised with that second person. Although I do not subscribe to any of the world religions, I am neither atheist or agnostic. Nature has always filled me with a sense of spirituality I cannot explain, even to myself. Maybe that’s why I write poetry, as an attempt to define the indefinable; not just a feeling, nor a religious faith, but a faith, no less. Whatever, it has seen me through some pretty bad times and some great times too. For better or worse, it has made of my life what, at surface level does not amount to much, but, a n ‘other’ self in me recognizes that it has been an incredible learning curve.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">I guess it’s the same for everyone, although in my case it has taken 77+ years to even begin to understand what has to be, in no small part, the role of personal space in the overall meaning of life. As for hope, optimism, positive thinking - whatever we like to call it – maybe that, in turn is the role of the kind of faith that nature inspires in many of us?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">For me, anyway, Spinoza’s sense of God and Nature being much of a one-ness, has seen me has seen me through more ups and downs of life to my late 70’s…and I suspect hasn’t finished with me quite yet. So, a new chapter looming in the shape of a new year, is scary, but curiously exciting one. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Who knows that lies ahead for any of us? We can but trust that still, small voice that goes by whatever name we choose, whatever our personal space learns to feels OK with…? Having grown in the bigoted 1950’s, is it any wonder that it took me until my 30’s to listen to mine and tell the world I’m gay…?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">STARTING OVER</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">End of another year looming,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">a global consciousness continuing to plead <br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">for peace and goodwill<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">to take root in the hearts of warmongers<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">in high places left swivelling<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">on comfy chairs in plush, warm home zones,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">rehearsing a Rhetoric of Peace<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">along with political ends, in keeping with a faux morality<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">that haunts a weary humanity</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">End of another year looming,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">a global consciousness continuing to hope<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">for kinder times ahead<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">on the backs of the quick and the dead<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">left grieving losses, asking questions,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">looking for answers where angels fear to tread<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">lest they encounter lost souls <br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">asking the way to a safe house heard tell of called Heaven,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Peace of Mind, second to none</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">End of another year looming,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">mind-body-spirit busy working out<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">how best to survive;</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />in or lose, resolving to understand<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">just who we are<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">by the end of it all (one way or another) <br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">not least for listening, believing<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">in each other, and lending a helping hand, ear, eye, whatever.;<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">life force, human endeavour</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Heart-and-soul preparing to get the better of our flaws again;<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">mind-body-spirit of being human</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Copyright R. N. Taber. 2022</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">[Note: This post-poem also appears on my gay poetry blog today.] RT</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p>R. N. Taberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18205524081367976564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349816738683130215.post-22236112856357843812022-12-24T20:39:00.003+00:002022-12-24T20:57:35.107+00:00Hello Everyone, from London UK<p><a href=" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber"> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber</a><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Faith is a passionate intuition.” - William Wordsworth </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.” - Martin Luther King, Jr. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Faith is an oasis in the heart which will never be reached by the caravan of thinking.” - Khalil Gibran</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“The belief that one's own view of reality is the only reality is the most dangerous of all delusions”. - Paul Watzlawick</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Now, it is the day before Christmas wherever the birth of Jesus Christ is celebrated; a time, too, to reflect on just what any religious faith means to us, both personally and universally.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">As regular readers will know, I consider myself a pantheist. Pantheists believe that God <i>is</i> nature.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Why do I think this way? I have no idea, except that I could never relate to a <i>personified </i>God, yet whenever I have engaged closely with nature, I have always experienced a <i>sense of spirituality</i> which I had always associated with religion, although religion had never given me access to the same experience; a very intimate experience, I should add.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">No one person’s perspective on life, faith, whatever, will ever be quite the same, not least because we are all different. That is not to say that one or other perspective is right or wrong, simply an integral part of who we are. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Me, I find various religious dogma too prescriptive and often incompatible with my perspective on life as all-embracing, all-inclusive; no excluding anyone on the basis of gender, sexual identity, walk of life etc. Humanity thrives on our differences, differences we need to accept and respect. Religious leaders profess to agree, yet their dogma argues differently. Accordingly, many of their followers may argue differently too.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">As regular readers will also be very aware, I am very much in favour of agreeing to differ in a spirit of peace and love, not the kind of divisiveness that causes, families to estrange, nations to declare war. <<<i>wry bardic grin</i>>></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sadly, human nature is such that we often find ourselves caught on either side of various divides, that cannot or will not see where each is coming from, cannot or will not bring themselves to communicate and even try to understand and find common ground.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Human nature itself is complex, confusing, invariably expected to <i>explain</i> itself, when our actions cannot always be explained away; feelings are not necessarily the same as motives and do not lend themselves easily to the vocabulary of reason. From early years, we are taught that to understand ourselves and each other we need to be insightful as to what motivates, even justifies certain actions. Yet, as the quotations above suggest, there are elements within all of us that even we, ourselves, are at pains to explain away.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Anyway, enough of my amateurish attempt to explain my deeper sentiments from which has evolved an all-inclusiveness that I try to inject into many of my poems. How far I succeed or not is up to the reader to decide.😉</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">It is Christmas Eve and, in the Spirit of Christmas, I want to thank you all for looking in on my blog posts and poems, it means a lot to me.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">All that remains, for now, is to wish you all safe, well and hopeful always. Sadly, the ways of the world and human nature are such that this is not always the case. Even so, we can but keep looking on the bright(er) side of life and do our best to spread happiness, comfort and joy along the way; rarely easy, yet we can but try.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Whether we celebrate Christmas or not (I don’t) may the <i>spirit</i> of Christmas - one of hope, peace and kindness - be with us all.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Oh, and yes, I am working on a new poem, so do drop by again soon.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Take care, folks, whoever and wherever you are.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hugs,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Roger</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">[Note: This post-poem also appears on my gay poetry blog today.] RT</span></p><p>PS Many thanks to those readers who take the trouble to point out any print or spelling errors in some of my poems; I always take note, re-read the poem as it appears on the screen and make any necessary amendments.</p>R. N. Taberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18205524081367976564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349816738683130215.post-48171845646561669572022-12-12T19:35:00.004+00:002023-01-12T11:12:52.685+00:00Hey, it's Snowing!<p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href=" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber"> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber</a><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">"If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?" - Percy Bysshe Shelley</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">"Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face". - Victor Hugo</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">"Autumn arrives in early morning, but spring at the close of a winter day." - Elizabeth Bowen </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">"Advice is like snow - the softer it falls, the longer it dwells upon, and the deeper it sinks into the mind."- Samuel Taylor Coleridge</span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"></p></blockquote><p></p></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Now, winter can be a cold, miserable season, especially as we grow old, comfort and joy over festivities relatively short-lived. Yet, the simple sound of children having fun building a snowman can warm the cockles of even the most sceptical heart among us…if we but make time to let it.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">As much of the UK experiences its first winter snowfall, even many a disgruntled commuter and shopper is also discovering that it is better to take snow in their stride and wear an infectious smile than be a miserable so-and-so, adamantly refusing to look on the bright(er) side of life...😉</span></p><p><img alt="" data-original-height="361" data-original-width="294" height="187" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhkAGcwc4KmJLOReGN22L6JYzQLKEwA0upY0zwCGu3JaNeqEe851bsBns0eVEy3IzWTjGnItj7dmJ4haxtuteP-7xJS2FjI8M5Al5nsYCBXuA542jLv-zNySkMBkkKExTS2JWmZTbLr-LgB4uks9SRx0iXRIR54AJFRpIW8R8cg9F5AFQzF0ghdOYXupw=w209-h187" style="font-family: inherit;" width="209" /></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">HEY, IT’S SNOWING…!</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Gardens covered in snow<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">trees all-a-glitter in the morning sun,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Everyone moved by the view<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">from a cosy indoors<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">until they need to venture outside<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">to go to work, school, <br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">whatever the reason, now having <br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">to do battle with a freezing winter’s day,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">come what may</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Motorists menaced by fog<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">obscuring even the sharpest vision;<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">icy surfaces demanding<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">extra care, pedestrians under no less<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">threat of injury from falls,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">especially the old and frail, welcoming<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">a steadying hand now and then<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">as sudden, bursts of the white stuff strike <br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">young and old alike</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">A thin spread of ice on ponds,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">and lakes inviting, but best avoided<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">for safety’s sake,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">better to build a snowman, sounds<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">of fun and laughter<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">warming the cockles of hearts worldwide<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">seeking respite from the cold,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">looking to engage with sunnier memories<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">to relax, find peace</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Inner eye, following footprints in the snow<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">where spring flowers are preparing to grow</span></p><p><i>Copyright R. N. Taber, 2022</i></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>R. N. Taberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18205524081367976564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349816738683130215.post-53556569729195006602022-12-08T22:43:00.004+00:002023-01-13T12:06:18.834+00:00Poetry Live<p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href=" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber"> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber</a><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>'There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,<br /> There is a rapture on the lonely shore,<br /> There is society where none intrudes,<br /> By the deep Sea, and music in its roar;<br /> I love not Man the less, but Nature more…’ </span><span>- Lord Byron [</span><i>Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage</i><span>]</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Beauty awakens the soul to act.” - Dante Alighieri</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Equality is the soul of liberty; there is, in fact, no liberty without it.” - Frances ‘Fanny’ Wright</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Poetry is an echo, asking a shadow to dance.” - Carl Sandburg</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>Now, yet another a reader asks why I write poetry “…in a world where, let’s face it, poetry is considered ‘old hat’ by most people?” Most people, perhaps, but certainly not everyone , given that blogger stats confirm this blog alone has had 212.000+ views si</span><span>nce I started writing it up about 10 years ago; my gay-interest poetry blog, too, has had 160, 000+ views.<br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Nor is poetry 'old hat' in schools, as some people suggest, including a good many schoolchildren; it has its place, among all the arts, on the learning curve that is life</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">If just one reader enjoys a poem and it gets them <i>thinking</i> about, not necessarily <i>agreeing</i> with its contents… well, that is reward enough for any poet.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>For me, all nature is’ live’ poetry; the more people enjoying it and thinking about its contents, I suspect the chances are the more likely they will want to play their part in keeping it alive for generations to come. </span><span>Combating climate change, for example, is more than a rescue mission for the survival of humankind, but for a natural world that existed long before us and deserves better </span><i>from</i><span> us. Even the most indefatigable resilience can be worn down over time, especially by circumstances (and people) working just as indefatigably against it, knowingly or otherwise.</span></span></p><p>POETRY LIVE</p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>Sunlight creeping through my window<br /></span><span>roused my eyes to a far cheerful awakening<br /></span><span>than an unhappy dreaming had led me<br /></span><span>to expect, a welcome surprise after a night<br /></span><span>of mind-body-spirit’s being tossed about<br /></span><span>on such feisty, restless waves of broken sleep<br /></span><span>as left heart-and-soul crying out for rescue,<br /></span><span>growing more fearful of no help ever happening <br /></span><span>until it heard a skylark singing</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>Encouraged and inspired by Apollo’s<br /></span><span>first kiss on the grassland where it nested,<br /></span><span>it rose to greet the morning on wings<br /></span><span>of a song bringing a sense of love and peace<br /></span><span>forever crying out to be found<br /></span><span>among shadows silenced by human fears,<br /></span><span>left chasing the sun by day, moon<br /></span><span>by night, invariably made to make do with echoes<br /></span><span>of wishful thinking for centuries</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>Ah, but the Here-and-Now can see me<br /></span><span>through whatever, if I will only but let it catch<br /></span><span>a shadow or two, give the echoes<br /></span><span>haunting mind-body-spirit substance enough<br /></span><span>to make even half a dream come true,</span><span><br /></span><span>much as the arts endeavour to do in music, <br /></span><span>poetry and painting, a creative therapy<br /></span><span>inspiring such kinder </span><span>life forces as it always will<br /></span><span>an all-embracing heart-and-soul</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>For every human shadow, may its silences be heard<br /></span><span>as pleas for peace around the world</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Copyright R. N. Taber, 2022</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p>R. N. Taberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18205524081367976564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349816738683130215.post-74654482934652286552022-12-03T21:44:00.000+00:002022-12-03T21:44:44.916+00:00Bells, Messaging the Spirit of Christmas<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber</a><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Christmas… is love in action. Every time we love, every time we give, it's Christmas.” - Dale Evans</span></p><p>“If there are occasions when my grape turned into a raisin and my joy bell lost its resonance, please forgive me. Charge it to my head and not to my heart.” - Jesse Jackson</p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Oh, Christmas isn't just a day, it's a frame of mind.” – ‘Kris Kringle’ in the movie, <i>Miracle on 34th Street </i>(1947)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach.” - ‘Scrooge’ <u>in</u> Stave 4 of <i>A</i> <i>Christmas Carol</i> by Charles Dickens</span></p><p>“The temple bell stops but I still hear the sound coming out of the flowers.” - Matsuo Basho</p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">During my first winter term at Junior School, (some 70 years ago…oo-err!) a teacher asked what we most enjoy at Christmas. “Presents, sir!", more than half the class yelled. One boy simply put his hand up. When the teacher indicated for him to speak, he said, “I enjoy it because people are much nicer and kinder.” </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">“A good point,” said the teacher with feeling, “I daresay many people would agree with you about other religious festivals as well…” He then changed the subject, but I wasn’t the only one left reflecting on his words… 😉 </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">As regular readers know, I became as disillusioned with most religious leaders and world religions as with most politicians and world politics generally over the years, and now think of myself as a Pantheist. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Now, having written and enjoyed reading poetry for as long as I can remember, I have tried to write a Poem for Christmas that reflects the common spirit of world religions, an all-embracing inclusiveness often found wanting in the interpretation of various dogma associated with them. And, no, I do not exclude Christianity. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Although I respect anyone’s religious Beliefs, I reserve the right (as regular readers will also know) to agree to differ…</span></p><p>BELLS, MESSAGING THE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS</p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Bells! Ringing out the same message<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">over centuries of fear<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">and pain, ringing out yet again<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">to remind the world<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">of such love and peace for all souls<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">striving, even fighting <br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">for peace of mind, but wishful thinking <br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">among any made to suffer hate and hypocrisy<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">poisoning a common humanity</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">They know, the bells, and feel our pain<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">as and when we struggle<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">to rise above it all, find peace and love<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">within each other,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">endeavour to let the world know, for all <br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">its many differences,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">that 'Love rules OK' and will find a way<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">to make its presence plainly and believably told,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">no LGBT folks, left out in the cold</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hear the joyful sound of Christmas bells,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">sending a message <br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">of peace, hope, love and goodwill <br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">to a common humanity,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">men, women and children, no exceptions<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">for gender, ethnicity <br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">or sexual identity, celebrating heart-and-soul<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">of You-Me-Us by drawing on its multiple voices,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">addressing the Spirit of Christmas</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">It's an all-inclusive You-Me-Us, a new generation,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">acknowledging the kinder side of being human</span></p><p><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Copyright R. N. Taber, 2022</span></i></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">[Note: This post-poem also appears on my gay-interest poetry blog today.] RT</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p>R. N. Taberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18205524081367976564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349816738683130215.post-7511042176380119292022-11-28T16:00:00.002+00:002022-11-28T21:11:10.120+00:00Highs and Lows<p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber</a><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">"Time changes everything except something within us which is always surprised by change." - </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Thomas Hardy <br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">" Life is your see-saw. You may not stay balanced long, but you can aim for a high after every low. Sanita Belgrave</span></p><p><span style="color: #101010;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"What is straight? A line can be straight, or a street, but the human
heart, oh, no, it's curved like a road through mountains." - Tennessee Williams</span></span></p><p>“Painting is silent poetry, and poetry is painting that speaks”. - Plutarch“</p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Now, most, if not all of us, get to experience the highs and lows of life as we progress; anyone, at any age, from any walk of life. At the time, the lows may well seem insurmountable, but trust the human spirit to see us through, and see us through, it invariably well, all the kinder and quicker with the love of and help from those who care about us. Whatever, like it or not, life is a learning process; we can learn and progress or be in denial and risk being unable to move on…</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Common sense, do I hear you say; nothing new, heard it all before…? Almost certainly, yes, and definitely from yours truly. Even so, <i>knowing</i> something and <i>acting </i>on it are two sides of the same coin, as we all know only too well. To be sure, we may flip the coin and it gives the wrong message. Ah, but if, even just a part of us recognizes that it is <i>not </i>answer to our problem, we need to trust heart-and-soul to message mind-body-spirit to…flip the darn coin again, and again… until it comes up with what it senses <i>is</i> the right message. Thereafter, we can feel confident about confronting our problem/s and working them through to a kinder end than when we first flipped the coin… and be reassured that, if things take a turn for the worse at any stage, we can always blame it on that old standby ‘fate’… <i>wry bardic chuckle</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Many a time have I tossed that coin and, many a time, blamed ‘fate’ for not helping me bring whatever mess I happen to be in to a hastier, more ‘successful’ conclusion. But… success, of course, is relative and getting out of whatever mess we may have fallen into - invariably down to ourselves, however inadvertently, from start to finish - well, <i>that’s </i>a successful outcome, and don’t let anyone tell you any differently who may have judged you for getting into a mess in the first place.😉</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Creative therapy, in any shape or form, is a sure way to help us sort our thoughts, give us a new, more positive perspective on life. How can I be sure? Why else do you think I have turned to writing – especially poetry – since schooldays…? I may not be famous, in any ‘celebrity’ sense, but, believe you me, having reached my late 70’s is a personal success story. We all have them, it’s as my mother once told schoolboy Roger, on my failing an important exam: “That’s what life is all about, dear, picking yourself up and starting all over again.” </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> I didn’t ‘get it’ then, and was sceptical, to say the least, but I certainly ‘get it’ now! <i>wry bardic grin</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">HIGHS AND LOWS</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>It’s our early years<br /></span><span>that help shape the rest of our lives<br /></span><span>taking on perceptions<br /></span><span>of family and friends, wondering where<br /></span><span>and why a rainbow ends,<br /></span><span>open to such fairy tale explanations<br /></span><span>as will lay the foundations<br /></span><span>of a worldly rhetoric appearing to offer answers<br /></span><span>that leave us asking more questions</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>In our middle years,<br /></span><span>we stand at a crossroads in our lives<br /></span><span>taking decisions,<br /></span><span>learning about their consequences, taking<br /></span><span>responsibility for them<br /></span><span>(or not, as the case may be) mixed feelings<br /></span><span>throwing us into a confusion<br /></span><span>we can shrug off, prepare to bluff our way through<br /></span><span>or put mind-body-spirit under review</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>In our later years,<br /></span><span>we may look back with anger, regret, <br /></span><span>even degrees of shame<br /></span><span>for paths unwisely taken, mistakes <br /></span><span>haunting mind-body-spirit,<br /></span><span>yet comfort, too, for heart-and-soul’s capacity<br /></span><span>for learning from them all,<br /></span><span>nurturing personal space, the wiser and more mature<br /></span><span>for the nature of its past-present-future</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>For better or worse, in brush strokes on a live canvas,<br /></span><span>find home truths that are the be-alls and end-alls of us </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Copyright R. N. Taber, 2022 </i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><br /></div>R. N. Taberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18205524081367976564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349816738683130215.post-52336123890729866682022-11-23T15:00:00.005+00:002022-11-23T18:18:00.617+00:00Lines on the Politics of Personal Space<p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Friendship improves happiness and abates misery by the doubling of our joy and the dividing of out grief.” Marcus Tullius Cicero</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> “We are all different. There is no such thing as a standard or run-of-the-mill human being, but we share the same human spirit.” – Stephen Hawking</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“As an anthropologist, I believe strongly in our common humanity. We can rise above the tribal divisions that have caused so much anguish and real damage in the past.” - Alice Roberts</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact”. -William James</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Now, In many ways, today’s poem-post continues yesterday’s theme/s. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Many people, especially LGBT + folks, including yours truly, have been very disturbed and upset by the banning of rainbow armbands on the pitch during the World Cup in Qatar in support of diversity and Human Rights; even fans wearing similarly supportive headgear have been told to remove it before entering the ground. Even so, this action by the authorities </span> - including and backed by FIFA - <span style="font-family: inherit;">has possibly brought the subject even more to the fore of people's minds across the world than was intended; an own goal, so to speak, by Qatar.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Oh, and one cannot help but admire and applaud the Iranian football team's bravery for refusing to sing their national anthem by way of making a similar protest.. Hopefully, they will not be subjected to abuse by the Iranian regime on their return home...</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">As regular readers will know, and some share the sentiment, growing old(er) can be heavy going at any age; either the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak or circumstances cause us to lose heart altogether and depression sets in. Somehow, we have to find our own way to rise above certain everyday ups and downs that challenge us all. (No, never easy, but… we have a choice?)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">I recently had a bath lift installed after being unable to get out of the bath for a good thirty minutes some weeks ago, due to mobility problems.😀 A walk-in shower might have been suitable for some, but not someone like myself who needs to be extra careful not to get water in my ears due to perforated eardrums. After being trapped that first time, I did devise a strategy for getting in and out of the bath, but involved a degree of acrobatics that was an accident waiting to happen. Now I feel safer. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Two close friends were a huge help and supervised my first attempts. They helped boost my patience and self-confidence to the extent that today I managed my first unsupervised bath, using the lift with no one around to help even if I needed it. Sounds simple enough, I know, but nothing is simple once years of hormone therapy for prostate cancer have messed with your thought processes. Yes, I experienced a few teething problems today, but at least I will find the next time I take a bath, a less scary and more relaxing experience.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">We all need help sometimes, just as we all need to find our own pace for doing whatever, despite the pace of modern life threatening to leave us behind for one reason or another. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Well, let it threaten; the human spirit is not easily put down… not for long, anyway, despite any temporary put-downs…</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">LINES ON THE POLITICS OF PERSONAL SPACE</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Life is making the most of its seasons,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">growing older, hopefully wiser to the tricks<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">time so loves to play on us all,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">mind-body-spirit continuing to engage <br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">with an enduring heart-and-soul, <br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">endeavouring to keep us on the right track,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">no matter such ways of a world<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">that would have us playing deaf, blind and dumb <br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">to the Politics of Outcome</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">It’s a tried and tested mind-body-spirit<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">needs to keep drawing on the native patience<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">at its command, constantly encouraging us<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">all to stay true to an evergreen heart-and-soul<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">urging we engage with patience, <br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">such patience as will see us through tough times,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">head held high, resolutely refusing <br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">to be cowed by such ways of the world as see many<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">feeling defeated and empty</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">The world may well have its reasons,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">temptations, and calls to You-Me-Us to comply,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">though heart-and-soul cries out<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">to defy, ignore, turn a deaf ear, no matter<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">any alternative desires;<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">wiser by far to steer through troubles and strife,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">follow the road map our senses<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">assure us will lead to far kinder, better times in store,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">well worth waiting, working for...</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Such is the gift of heart-and-soul, to a shared humanity,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">if but the patience to devise a winning strategy</span></p><p><i style="font-family: inherit;">Copyright R.N. Taber, 2022</i></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p>R. N. Taberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18205524081367976564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349816738683130215.post-66484319577073043592022-11-21T12:58:00.000+00:002022-11-21T12:58:38.474+00:00Hi, folks, from London UK<p><a href=" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber"><span style="font-family: inherit;">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber</span></a></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">"Peace cannot be achieved through violence; it can only be attained through understanding". Ralph Waldo Emerson</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“It is far better to endure patiently a smart which nobody feels but yourself than to commit a hasty action whose evil consequences will extend to all connected with you.” - ― Charlotte Brontë, <i>Jane Eyre</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“And sure enough, even waiting will end...if you can just wait long enough.” ― William Faulkner</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">"Never cut a tree down in the wintertime. Never make a negative decision in the low time. Never make your most important decisions when you are in your worst moods. Wait. Be patient. The storm will pass. The spring will come." - Robert H. Schuller</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hi, folks,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Yet again, I am working on a new poem; the spirit is as willing as ever, but it is a grim looking morning outside and inspiration is not yet quite ready to compensate for it. 😉</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">A bad night with the prostate cancer hasn't helped; even though it was not diagnosed as <i>aggressive </i>back in 2012, I was not prepared for years of broken sleep. Even so, I continue to feel encouraged and inspired by so many people across the world having to endure far worse circumstances then yours truly, not least the homeless and dying.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Many years ago, at school, I studied Shakespeare's <i>King Lear</i> for A-level GCE Exam; I was only studying two subjects, the other one was French, and I needed to pass both to go to Library Schools - for which I had been conditionally accepted. I failed the French exam, not once, but twice because my oral was not up to scratch. I was devastated and and left school in 1964 with no clear idea of what the future had in store for me. In those days, relatively few people understood homosexuality and were even less tolerant of LGBT+ folks than many still are.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">It was <i>King Lear </i>that came to my rescue. Of all the wonderful quotes to be found in Shakespearean texts, perhaps the least likely, but one that has seen me through some tough times all my life, has been from Act 2 where Lear, raging against the cruelties of daughters, Goneril and Regan, cries:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">"You heavens, give me that patience, patience, I need...!"</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Now, I am a Sagittarian and it would take me another 12 years to get a university degree and eventually qualify as a graduate chartered librarian, during which time, I needed to draw on far more patience than comes naturally to anyone born under a fire sign...</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Generally speaking, attitudes towards LGBT+ folks then left much to be desired and, for a variety of reasons, I stayed in a dark, lonely closet for more years than I care to remember. Slowly but surely, attitudes are changing as more people begin to appreciate that sexual identity is not a matter of choice. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">As I have said on previous posts, one of the greater tragedies of modern life is that many world societies and religions have no understanding of the LGBT+ mindset; in my case, it was <i>this</i> that led to a nervous breakdown in the late 1970'swhich would ,in turn, lead to lead to my coming 'out' and starting the gay poetry blog.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Oh, but I do indeed owe <i>King Lear, </i>more than I could have dreamed or hoped for way back in my schooldays...! <i>wry bardic grin</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">So, too ,'new' reader, K W, who dismisses my regular use of quotations prior to the main body of my poetry-posts as "a load of literary b- shit" may understand why we must agree to differ...?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Bye, for now, dear readers, and I hope to be back with another poem very soon.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hugs,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Roger</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">[Note: this post also appears on my gay poetry blog today.] RT</span></p><p><br /></p>R. N. Taberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18205524081367976564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349816738683130215.post-35291569335675700812022-11-15T11:30:00.002+00:002022-11-21T12:51:32.330+00:00A Life in the Day of Mind-body-Spirit<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber</a><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Make the most of your regrets; Never smother your sorrow, but tend and cherish it ’til it comes to have a separate and integral interest. To regret deeply is to live afresh.” ~ Henry David Thoreau</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Age has no reality except in the physical world. The essence of a human being is resistant to the passage of time. Our inner lives are eternal, which is to say that our spirits remain as youthful and vigorous as when we were in full bloom. Think of love as a state of grace, not the means to anything, but the alpha and omega. An end in itself.” – Gabriel García Márquez </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Look closely and you will see almost everyone carrying bags of cement on their shoulders. That’s why it takes courage to get out of bed in the morning and climb into the day.” ~ Edward Hirsch</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Happiness quite unshared can scarcely be called happiness; it has no taste.” – Charlotte Bronte</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Now, as each day passes, my 77th birthday looming (in December) I am often hard pressed to keep looking on the bright(er) side of life. I so miss being young, fit, able to make plans and feel confident that I will be well enough to not only carry them through, but also enjoy and learn from them. I miss having friends around for cosy chats and a laugh; many have moved away now and mobility problems make travelling difficult.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ah, corny though it may sound, the human spirit really <i>can</i> keep us young at heart and soul, if only we will <i>let</i> it, Rarely (if ever) easy. We can but try, even if, as life itself invariably proves, it’s a case of ‘win some, lose some…’</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">A LIFE IN THE DAY OF MIND-BODY-SPIRIT</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">There are times in any life<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">when the flesh is weak, but the spirit<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">remains as strong as ever,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">whatever its reasons or seasons, <br />be it </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">a spring, summer, <br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">autumn or winter of mind-body-spirit;<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">it perseveres, encouraged<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">by a heart-and-soul, wiser beyond its years<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">to sources of human tears</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">There are times in any life<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">when waking after a poor night’s sleep <br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">leaves the body too weary<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">to even raise a smile at dawn’s rising<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">above early mist and cloud,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">trying to force its way to half-open eyes <br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">and ears, through drapes <br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">at windows obscuring Everyman’s perception<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">of life, love, regeneration…</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Finally, though, mind and body<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">takes its cue from what lends it sense,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">sensibility and </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">stability,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">from birth to death, whatever in-between<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">may lie in wait, ready to pounce<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">and test us to limits sure to weigh heavy<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">on any host body, <br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">all the love attending it beseeching its survival<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">of Humanity’s heart-and soul</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Alas, not every ear that hears<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">can comply with every caller’s bidding;<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">no call, though, is ever in vain,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">no matter of the human outcome be loss,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">and pain, in whatever form;<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">living, partly living, or stored in Memory’s<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">vault of eternal springtime,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">there remain such ways for all selves to choose,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">every which way, then…loose?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Copyright R. N. Taber, 2022</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p>R. N. Taberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18205524081367976564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349816738683130215.post-38883396193968093652022-11-10T16:15:00.004+00:002022-11-15T10:32:27.479+00:00Needs Must...<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber</a></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“There is something in the human spirit that will survive and prevail, there is a tiny and brilliant light burning in the heart of man that will not go out no matter how dark the world becomes.” - Leo Tolstoy </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“We are all different. There is no such thing as a standard or run-of-the-mill human being, but we share the same human spirit.”- Stephen Hawking </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“All the art of living les in a fine mingling of letting go and holding on.” - Havelock Ellis </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“In solitude the mind gains strength and learns to lean upon itself.”- Laurence Sterne</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.” - Mark Twain</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Now, as I grow old, especially perhaps as I live alone, I find myself taking greater meaning and strength from such common idioms as ‘mind over matter’ - the more so as even everyday tasks become more difficult and take much longer. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">As regular readers know, ten years of hormone therapy for my prostate cancer have really messed with my thought processes and memory generally. Even so, I find that exercising my mind even just by writing this blog and composing poems helps to lick some of those rogue thought processes into better shape in much the same way as physio exercises help the body.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">I used to get so angry with myself - and with time itself - for the way I am. However, by the time I have taken a deep breath, begun to appreciate that I am still alive to tell the tale and how there are many people of all ages and walks of life in far worse circumstances than mine, I invariably calm down and give myself a severe telling-off for feeling sorry for myself rather than attempting to rise to whatever challenges present themselves in the Here-and-Now. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">From feeling lost in a wilderness, the decision to not only look for a way out, but finding one is music to deaf ears…</span></p><p>NEEDS MUST...</p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Within a mind-body-spirit<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">common to all humanity, a space<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">that’s ours alone to fill,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">no matter how circumstances appear<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">to conspire against us<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">motivating our strengths or preying <br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">on some native weakness, <br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">known only to the heart-and-soul, urging us<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">to make wiser, kinder choices</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Whenever circumstances <br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">make such demands of us as choices<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">are blurred by feelings<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">nurtured, cherished within inner selves<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">and painful to ignore<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">or even betray, then mind-body-spirit<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">may well fall apart, <br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">the faithful heart hurled into such confusion,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">no real harm meant, much done</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Needs must, we but trust<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">the inner self to know us way beyond<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">whatever faces society<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">may well often require us to wear if only<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">a façade for fear of being<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">made to feel, left out of things, unable<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">or afraid to raise a voice<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">in protest at this or that buzz of conversation<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">causing us consternation</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">The inner self knows us better<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">than we think we have got know ourselves<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">while journeying <br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">through the glorious and less glorious<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">passages of time, a wisdom <br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">beyond the confines of worldly demands,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">licking us into shape,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">an experience as defining an affinity with nature<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">as its past-present-future</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">As we pass through the seasons<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">of life, so mind-body-spirit aids and abets<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">our adapting to the changes<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">they ask of us, calling on heart-and soul<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">to call, in turn, on a native<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">willpower making us capable of far, far more<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">than we may have imagined, <br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">till needs must we rise above misgivings and pain;<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">no small part of being human</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Copyright R N Taber 2022</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p>R. N. Taberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18205524081367976564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349816738683130215.post-30826453226243304352022-11-06T16:14:00.003+00:002022-11-06T16:34:30.753+00:00Smiling Through<p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“There is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in.” - Leonard Cohen</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“ What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity.”- George Eliot</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>Now, as regular readers will know, I have been treated with hormone therapy for my prostate cancer over a period of a good ten years now; one of the side-effects can be - as it is so for me - </span><span>regular depression and/or a rising sense of panic whenever even small things go wrong. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">I suspect it may seem worse for older people like myself who live alone, which is maybe why we appreciate acts of kindness so much, as it helps (considerably) to alleviate these symptoms; someone able to pare just a few minutes to talk to you and help calm you down can make all the difference.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Since the pandemic, everyone has been under stress. Here in London, acts of kindness are noticeably in far shorter supply than they were previously. For example, fewer people are willing to pause to help ole Rog when clearly in difficulty or offer a seat on a crowded bus or train, so I have to stand, leaning on my walking stick for support. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Whenever anyone <i>does </i>offer me their seat, I thank them, throw them a huge smile, and the light in their eyes suggests it is as much welcome to them as their offer of a seat is to me.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">As in many old sayings, there is much truth in the one about kindness bringing its own reward. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hopefully, we have seen the worst of Covid-19 and its variants, although there remain hard times ahead as the financial crisis finds so many people struggling to make ends meet.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 17.12px;">All any of us can do is keep looking on the brighter, lighter side of life and take comfort in the knowledge that there is always light at the end of even the longest tunnel.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 17.12px;">No, never easy, but... we have a choice?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">SMILING THROUGH</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>This heart grew heavy,<br /></span><span>loaded down with sadness, a sense<br /></span><span>of feeling adrift,<br /></span><span>barely keeping afloat for sailing<br /></span><span>stormy waters,<br /></span><span>struggling to make sense of a life<br /></span><span>searching heart-and soul<br /></span><span>for that familiar surge of a lively inspiration,<br /></span><span>now gone quiet, all but a vacuum</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>Mind-body-spirit<br /><span>struggling to rise above such despair<br /></span></span><span>as strikes fear<br /></span><span>in the hearts of those of us anxious<br /></span><span>to make sense<br /></span><span>of a You-Me-Us simply drifting along<br /></span><span>having all but lost sight<br /></span><span>of who we are any more, not as once we were,<br /></span><span>birds of a feather, so happy together</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>Lately, even the smiles <br /></span><span>on our faces tell lies, trying to disguise<br /></span><span>a You-Me-Us fallen apart<br /></span><span>over tard times without our noticing,<br /></span><span>taking us for granted,<br /></span><span>failing to see how we rarely any more<br /></span><span>as once we would<br /></span><span>fondly reminisce about how we met, fell in love,<br /></span><span>caught up in the magic of stars above</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>So… it came to pass,<br /></span><span>we agreed a trial separation some time<br /></span><span>to think us through,<br /></span><span>search the remains of who we once were,<br /></span><span>try and see our way clear<br /></span><span>to bring You-Me-Us together again, fill <br /></span><span>the Black Hole<br /></span><span>we'd dug ourselves, a lonely, grieving while apart,.<br /></span><span>anxious to reconcile mind-body-spirit</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>Yes, we courted anew, years falling away, tears too,<br /></span><span>a shared heart-and-soul smiling through...</span></span></p><p><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Copyright R. N. Taber, 2022</span></i></p><div><i><br /></i></div>R. N. Taberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18205524081367976564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349816738683130215.post-16678448456002799402022-10-31T20:26:00.000+00:002022-10-31T20:26:09.060+00:00A Feeling for Spring<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber</a><br /></p><p><span>“Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.” - Mark Twain</span></p><p><a name="_Hlk118134514"><span style="color: #101010; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot
drive out hate; only love can do that.” </span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">- Martin Luther King Jr.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">“The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and
deeds left undone.” - Harriet Beecher Stowe </span><span style="color: #101010; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">“For every minute you remain angry, you give up sixty seconds of peace
of mind.”- Ralph Waldo Emerson</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Reader A. D. asks why I am “… so preoccupied with inter-communication between people, so-called ‘agreeing to differ’ and engaging in discussion even about personal issues where there are clearly radical differences of opinion. “Better for everyone, surely,” he or she suggests, “to let sleeping dogs lie?” Well, we must, indeed, agree to differ, say so and shake on it. In my experience many if not most such 'sleeping dogs' are badly in need of a wake-up call; being left to sleep on, thereby likely to inflict such damage on human relationships as not easily mended.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">One of the greater tragedies of human nature is the inability or reluctance of many people to confront those against whom they may hold a grudge, invariably for fear of having to endure a bitter exchange of insults, commonly referred to as ‘home truths'.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Both parties are usually to blame, to some extent for broken relationships, but it takes only one to make a start on a healing process. Many of us, including yours truly, have no idea how to make a start, whether it be with a family member, friend or neighbour, often for fear of being accused of simply making excuses for what has been perceived as unforgivable behaviour, but may well have been a misunderstanding due to circumstances left unshared. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">The longer any misunderstanding or genuine excuse remains silent, refusing to engage in any healing process, the longer any grudge will fester, mind-body-spirit, turning a deaf ear to whatever heart-and-soul is constantly mulling, even grieving over.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">True, some broken relationships cannot be mended, but not for want of trying. Better to have tried and failed than never to have tried at all, though, surely? The problem remains, though, that some well-meaning efforts may well be misinterpreted, taking us back to square one. Even so, an aggrieved heart-and-soul may yet find a welcome measure of peace for having dispended with the futility of harbouring grudges.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">A FEELING FOR SPRING</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">I am so much the sweeter taste<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">and fragrance of life, just for having<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">shed those darker senses<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">keeping heart-and-soul from engaging<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">fully, openly, positively<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">with a mind -body-spirit struggling<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">under the growing weight<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">of ill-judged expectations or responses<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">plunging knives into You-Me-Us</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Having been given no opportunity<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">to put my side of things as misunderstood<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">and left to fester, bad feeling<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">getting the better of any finer senses <br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">of fair play, never spoken,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">kept hidden in recesses of heart-and-soul<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">feeding on bitterness,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">happiness left to but make the best it can<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">of the contrariness of being human</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">I am as that first full kiss or spring,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">come to relieve the pain of such wintry days<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">as we have felt obliged<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">to endure, no hint of choice, no voice<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">for having been unable<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">to penetrate certain defences, both yours<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">and mine, now worn down <br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">by tears for such likely misunderstandings <br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">as deserving of happier landings</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">I am Forgiveness, making time for a fresh start,<br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">finally come to flower in the human heart</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Copyright R. N. Taber, 2022</i></span></p><p><br /></p>R. N. Taberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18205524081367976564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349816738683130215.post-3214707401600583372022-10-29T14:25:00.002+00:002022-10-29T14:25:29.542+00:00Hello again from London UK<p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.” - Albert Einstein</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” - William Shakespeare [Hamlet]</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Let children read whatever they want and then talk about it with them. If parents and kids can talk together, we won't have as much censorship because we won't have as much fear.” - - Judy Blume</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Dear Readers</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hello again from London UK. I am working on a new poem, but (very) slowly as I am increasingly unwell these days. I hope some of you may enjoy visiting the archives for earlier poems you might enjoy.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Your support means lot to me as I live alone and every day is heavy-going these days. Even so, I am only too well aware that there are many people, of all ages, battling with health issues worse than mine; they are an <i>inspiration</i> to us all. Meanwhile, I have the arts and and good friends to help see me through...</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Readers sometimes email me to ask how I am coping with the prostate cancer. Well, with difficulty, but it’s Hobson’s choice – press on or give up, and I am a stubborn so-and-so…! Besides, there is always love in in our lives, in one form or another, to help see us all through...</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">As regular blog readers will know, ten years of hormone therapy for my prostate cancer often leave me feeling confused, even frightened sometimes. I read the riot act to myself every day, telling myself to be philosophical in so far as there’s no point crying over spilt milk… easier said than done, of course, but always helps calm me down.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Medicine meant to prevent me having to get up so often during the night to use the toilet, has never worked for me, although I have devised a compromise of sort which involves taking one pill at mid-day, and it helps some nights. Even so, as my first cancer consultant used to say, prostate cancer has a mind of its own!</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">As I will have said before, sometimes I start to feel panicky and sorry for myself, so I distract myself from negative feelings by engaging with word puzzles. This not only helps calm me down, but also has the effect of restoring my muddled thought processes into better shape, sufficiently to - slowly but surely - put together another poem and get to grips with what is happening in the world. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Mind you, the world today is such that I often think I am better off not getting to grips with it. After watching The News on TV, I invariably turn to word puzzles or my poetry to distract myself from the usual doom ‘n’ gloom!</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Another reader asks why I haven’t always posted both poems on both blogs. Well, not everyone wants to read a gay-specific poem, but when a general poem embraces all readers, regardless of gender, sexual identity, ethnicity etc. I feel it deserves a place on both blogs. Some gay readers have said they use shared computers and are reluctant to access a gay poetry blog. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">One likes to think that we live in more enlightened times as prejudice - of any kind - against anyone belongs to history. Sadly, as we all know, human nature still has a long way to go before everyone acknowledges the harm any form of perceived prejudice invariably inflicts, whether it is driven by religious, political or personal agendas.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Take care, stay safe and keep well,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Back soon,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hugs,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier;">Roger</span></p><div><br /></div>R. N. Taberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18205524081367976564noreply@blogger.com0