Heatwave

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

“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed.” – Mahatma Gandhi

“What is the use of a house if you haven’t got a tolerable planet to put it on?” – Henry David Thoreau

“The climate crisis has already been solved. We already have the facts and solutions. All we have to do is wake up and change.” – Greta Thunberg

Cherish the natural world, because you’re a part of it and depend on it.” -  Sir David Attenborough

 Now, much of Europe is in the grip of the most sustained heatwave for fifty years. In London and other parts of the UK, temperatures are forecast to peak tomorrow and/ or the next day at around 40 degrees Celsius, which would be the highest ever recorded here.

In the meantime, those of us who can barely stand even moderate heat, await tomorrow with baited breath, given that a significant number of deaths, directly related to the heatwave, have been reported across southern Europe.

Isn’t it about time we all took those scientists who have been studying climate change for years more seriously instead of being in denial or, worse, treating it as none of our immediate concern?

People matter. The planet matters. The past-present-future of all creatures great and small deserves better, surely, than an endgame that has the potential to reduce it to ashes?

So, what can we all do to, each in their own way, to at least limit climate change …better late than too late…?

HEATWAVE

Apollo, raging at humanity
for breaking faith with a natural world
force fed good intentions
meant to improve quality of life
for native communities 
too busy fighting amongst each other
to let serious thought dwell
on the effects of climate change in a future
too distant to really matter

Apollo, messaging humanity
to have a care when poisoning earth, sea
and air with egos driven
by greed and/ or a desire to get one over
his/ her neighbour 
because appearances matter, prove
that human nature
has the capacity to do better than but wait
on some fruitful turn of fate? 

Apollo, in sheer desperation,
commanded by an Earth Mother driven
to breaking such laws of nature
as have been attended to for centuries
in spite of human vagaries
spilling over landscapes of such poetry
as would have seeing-eyes,
hearing-ears, attend the living, one and all,
a kinder future, heart-and soul

Sun, whose risings, settings,
have marked the acts and contemplations
of generations, for better, worse
or such puzzles to be muddled through
as best we can, tomorrows
always waiting in the wings to see what we
will make or break of it,
whether quality-of-life is taskmaster or slave,
healing power or topical heatwave

Copyright R. N. Taber 2022

On Reading the Hand that Writes us Up

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

The Climate Change Summit in Glasgow has had a lot to say on the subject, but one cannot help wonder how many will translate into meaningful action. Even so, Hope springs eternal...

As important as weather patterns,  we need to keep a close eye on human behavioural patterns and not underestimate how they are affected by changes in our personal lives that are constantly taking place, not always for the better. 

The coronavirus pandemic has affected all us and  humanity will need all the life forces it can call upon and sustain during and after it has run its course; the effects on its collective mental as well as physical health will, of course, vary from person to person, country to country, but of one thing we can be sure - nothing will ever be quite the same again, whatever...

ON READING THE HAND THAT WRITES US UP

There's a hand that caresses the first seeds of spring
and bids them grow;
it moves among summer corn in time for harvesting,
courtesy of Apollo

Where autumn's leaves making ready for its turning,
it bestows a blessing;
when winter brings us to its knees, of life despairing,
it guides us into spring

Where we run the gamut of love, hate, peace and war,
find, too, Earth Mother;
better to have its caresses smooth over a troubled brow,
rescue the Here-and-Now 

The question arises, dare we bite the hand that feeds us,
face the consequences
or do we accept it in a spirit of goodwill to all humanity,
put aside our differences?

Beware, or hands rocking our cradle may yet let it drop,
our world breaking up;
it's to read the hand that's writing us up we need to learn
or else... Armageddon?

Copyright R. N. Taber 2012; rev. 2021

[Note: The original version of this poem was written in 2009 and appears in my collection Tracking the Torchbearer, Assembly Books, 2012'; it has only recently been significantly revised.] RT

A Feeling for Crosswords OR Not every Answer is the Right One

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

Just as completing a crossword requires that we take our cue from each and every clue it provides, it could be said that saving the planet asks that we follow much the same procedure; first, though, we need to properly read and make sense of the clues before we act on any cues which we are authoritatively reassured are most likely to see what we have started through to a successful end.

 A FEELING FOR CROSSWORDS or NOT EVERY ANSWER IS THE RIGHT ONE

Uneasy sirs a Muse
in the role of cynic, so many turnings
to choose from
and who’s to say any one kinder
than another,
left to toss and turn on a hotbed
of indecision
and confusion, asking of native imagination
but to show me some compassion? 

Left tossing and turning
like a whore harbouring even more regrets
than tales she might care
to share with tabloids peddling
their shoddy goods
over a quality marmalade spread,
courtesy of higher
and lower elements of a global consciousness
sucking up to (Value-for-Money?) 

Still tossing and turning,
when not fawning over soft soap politics
or such watchpersons
insisting humility but a primitive fantasy,
especially concerning
a public judiciary last heard observing
over its favourite breakfast 
how we needs must balance morality’s scales 
against any need to improve  sales 

Oh, the tossing and turning
over the chances of winning The Lottery,
sorting the Irish Question
for all time at two-across, five down
on the beast
of a Rush Hour train about as likely
to save the planet
as see those campaigning for a cleaner, safer one
arriving for work on time 

More tossing and turning,
for a so-weary and inept Muse struggling
with a poetry needing
to relate how life’s more than a show
put on in passing
by over-rated players too busy courting
media attention
and telling the world what it most wants (?) to hear
to make sure it has a future 

Uneasy stirs a Muse
feeling lost on Platform One,
last train long gone,
and not a clue as to what’s going on,
until younger voices
assure the would-be passenger
that the timetable
is out of date, revised late, but better a late than never
a stitch in time, whatever...? 

Less tossing and turning
for a Muse’s growing belief
in young people
of the world not only insisting it turn
over a new leaf,
but gradually converting doubters
to their way
of thinking, old guards all but reconciled to its changing,
a better future beckoning 

Copyright R. N. Taber 2001 rev. 2021

[Note: First composed in 1984, an earlier version of this poem appears under the title 'A Feeling for Crosswords' in my first collection,  Love and Human Remains by R. N. Taber,, Assembly Books, 2001.] RT

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ghosts, Prayers, Choices OR 'Powers That Be', the Finest Rhetoric in Town

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

The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference  - also known as COP26 - is being held in Glasgow, Scotland, UK between 31 October and 11 November; it is the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference.

At the same time,  given record-breaking forest fires in Siberia, torrential flooding on the Black Sea, and a severe heatwave in Moscow this year, the refusal of Vladimir Putin to attend the conference says enough, I suspect, about those in denial of climate change to dampen any real hopes of world leaders reaching a consensus about how best to tackle it.

"We are the first generation to feel the effects of climate change and the last generation who can do anything about it." - Barack Obama, former US president.

 GHOSTS, PRAYERS, CHOICES or 'POWERS THAT BE', THE FINEST RHETORIC IN TOWN

Although our tears falling like winter rain
for revisiting our hurt and suffering,
let's rediscover springtime, put aside pain,
be hopeful again, happy and laughing

World leaders failing to assuage our fear
of global forces undermining our bliss,
let's recall the times we've made love here,
taking us heavenwards on wings of a kiss

Birds of a feather, forever may we glide
all seasons of the love we've sworn,
for as God is Love and all nature onside,
may we be as mind-body-spirit reborn

To all humanity, potential to have and hold,
sustain forever or... see us left in the cold?

Copyright R.N. Taber 2005; rev.2021

[Note: This poem takes its cue from an earlier poem written in 2004 under the title 'Memories, Prayers, Flowers' that appears in my collection, A Feeling for the Quickness of Time, Assembly Books, 2005.] RT

Enough is Enough

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

Why is it, I wonder, that many world leaders are only just waking up to the threat of climate change and facing up to their responsibilities, at least as far as gathering material for speeches intended to impress the electorate is concerned; sadly, much of that same electorate remains under the illusion that global warming is some kind of capitalist conspiracy propagated by those most likely to gain from it.

 If it is a rule of thumb never to underestimate one’s adversary, never was it more of a truism than in the context of humankind v nature; in the longer term, at least, and – let’s face it – as far as our time here on Earth is concerned, it’s the longer term that really matters. 

How can those of us who so love to engage with the natural world excuse years of  failing to speak up in its defence... albeit, until now, any protests have fallen on deaf ears and/or justify such in the name of 'progress' or (worse) leisure interests? Yes, that's human nature and better to progress than regress...but  we can hardly expect nature to keep paying the price it is expected to pay without making any protest.  

There comes a time when, for any of us, enough is enough; for Earth Mother, I suspect that time is now;  humankind needs must to make reparation before it is too late.... if it is not too late already. Hope, though, springs eternal and they do say "Better late than never." 😉

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

Oh, world of love and beauty,
nature’s glory all around;
sadly, a devil’s cruelty in Man’s
own story found

Oh, world, such creatures in it
of every shape and colour;
Man, bent on killing off the planet
for an easy dollar

Oh, Eden, long since abandoned,
History repeating its mistakes;
lion kings in eco-zoos, mercenaries
raising the stakes

Oh, world, defying an ozone crack,
beware! Nature’s fighting back...

Earth Mother, inclined to cut up rough,
"Enough is enough...!"

Copyright R. N. Taber 2001; rev. 2021

[Note: This poem has been slightly but significantly revised since it first appeared under the title 'Global Warning' in an anthology – A Celebration of Verse, Anchor Books, 2001 - and subsequently in my collection, First Person Plural, Assembly Books, 2001.]

 

Nature Study

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

Today’s poem has been slightly but significantly revised from the original version that appears in my collection, Love and Human Remains, Assembly Books, 2001

Now, a reader writes in to sat yesterday’s poem was “... a typical over-reaction to the amount of media attention given to fluke weather conditions this year...”

I usually respect intelligent points of view that conflict with my own, but this is hardly an intelligent response to a global crisis... well, is it?

NATURE STUDY

Brightness, falling from the sky
like summer rain, makes the flowers grow,
and the world shine
like rainbow trout on a school kid’s line
at a local stream,
who should be playing in a football team,
but his dad beat him
black and blue, with ma laid out
on the kitchen floor, and he’s not ready yet
to even take a shower

Brightness, falling from the sky
like acid rain, making the trees cry, as leaves
die like fishes everywhere
and other species, carefully laid out
under glass for science
and future generations to reason,
(or agree to differ)
how killing off a species smacks of depravation,
but biology, that’s education

Shadows, much like corpses
on the ground where skylarks once flew,
now a forgotten sound
at a spot where revelations in the clay
suggest a once-busy stream
in a world that aspired to give progress
a good run for its money,
no hint of humanity neatly laid out
under corporate glass for its endangered species
to argue rhetoric and excuses

High time humankind held Progress to its word,
encouraging a kinder, safer world...?...

Copyright R. N. Taber 2001; rev. 2021

Classroom Politics OR Extinction Rebellion, Getting Real

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

OVERHEARD in a local Supermarket: 

MAN: “Don’t talk to me about climate change. If you ask me, it’s a load of rubbish. Youngsters, today, huh! Never happy unless that can find something to whinge about. Take this Extinction Rebellion lot, a bunch of troublemakers if you ask me...” 

WOMAN: “I’m not so sure. I mean, well, what do any of us actually know about what’s causing such high temperatures in Greece, wildfires in Australia, worsening weather conditions all over...?” 

MAN: “Oh, well, the planet’s here to stay for a good while yet, so time enough to worry when and if the time comes, that’s what I say...”

When and if the time comes...? Better to be safe than sorry, surely? The sooner we all start doing our bit to save the planet, the better its chances of survival... and ours. That’s what yours truly says, thinks, and tries to practise what I preach as best I can...

The poem below was written over twenty years ago, and my inner ear told me even then that young people were already beginning to express various Green and Climate concerns. They are much older, now ,of course, ad it is good to see the next generation actively expressing much the same concerns...

CLASSROM POLITICS or EXTINCTION REBELLION, GETTING REAL

Murmurs in the classroom
smack of revolution

Stuck in front of a television,
well able to tell fact from fiction,
the problem being,
where on earth to draw the line
between what we love
to watch over endless cups of tea
while and rejecting
whatever it may be giving us cause
to suspect our sense of pleasure more than
a shade unhealthy

Murmurs in the classroom
smack of revolution

Made to sit back and watch
our home planet being set upon;
little if any regard for nature
whose best interests are ill-served
by those of Big Business
despite any public relations exercise
performed by Fat Cats
keen to exploit media attention,
all the better to disguise a hidden agenda
of mass destruction

Murmurs in the classroom
smack of revolution 

Copyright R N. Taber 2001; rev. 2021

[Note: This poem was first  published in my collection, Love and Human Remains, Assembly Books, 2001; it has recently been slightly but significantly revised, August, 2021.]

 

Bathtime Nuances

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

OVERHEARD: 1^st Person: “If climate change is nature getting its own back for all the damage we’ve done, we probably deserve it, but Heaven help us all.”

                           2^nd Person: Nature is no fool nor is God. If we’re being taught a lesson, let’s hope we learn it in good time or it won’t be us having the last laugh...” 

BATHTIME NUANCES 

Lying back in a bath,
engaging with times past,
you-me-us
battling less trouble and strife
and no coronavirus
threatening us at every turn,
our quality of life
a slippery slope for sliding down,
climbing up, falling again 

Engaging with the heat
of a kinder personal space,
you-me-us
dreaming of spreading wings,
visiting such islands
as set apart from worldly ways
while joining up any dots
best placed to keep up appearances
embracing love and kindness 

Bath water cooling down,
time to get busy with the task
of scrubbing clean
a mind-body-spirit disillusioned
by a world anxious
to interpret information data
in such ways as furthering
such political agendas as win elections,
least offend its religions 

A window left partly open
lends me glimpses of a leafy patch
of blue sky under siege
by weepy clouds, till old Apollo
effects a timely rescue
reminding me (as I grab a towel)
of such life and light
as nature duly inspires mind-body-spirit
lest it should ever forget 

Refreshed and ready to take on a new day,
a hopeful heart, come what may 

Copyright R. N. Taber 2021

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Times, they are A-Changing

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

It was January 1964. I had just left school, still living at home and contemplating my future the first time I heard Bob Dylan singing The Times, They Are A-Changin’ on the family radiogram in the comfort of an armchair. 

A violent storm was raging outside. 

Maybe it was the poet in me that started me thinking along much the same lines as I do now, 50+ years later, that nature and humanity are at risk... not least from each other?

THE TIMES, THEY ARE A-CHANGING

Sun glaring down
with the ferocity of a Greek god
at humankind’s
insistence upon pitting itself
against nature
in the name of progress,
any capital gains notwithstanding,
climate change but an incidental factor
in a universal picture? 

Forest fires, freak floods,
forcing whole families to take flight,
come day or night,
since nature has little respect
for those in denial
of meaning it harm by providing
greater elbow room 
as and when the need, any justification
met with regeneration                                          

Does the natural world
not deserve better that such Reserves
and Zoos as humankind
feels inclined to allow, if only to teach
its past and present
to students of world order, its future
looking as bleak
as theirs, its own life forces whittled down
by matters human? 

A worldwide pandemic,
regarded by many as beyond coincidence,
but Earth Mother’s way
of protesting at humanity’s inclination
to see wildlife as sport,
green spaces expendable wherever
developers see potential
in arguing for public as well as private gains,
so “Everyone wins...” 

Come a 21^st Century virus,
targeting the human race as indiscriminately
as it has seen fit
to target birds, beasts, fishes and habitats
in the name of self-preservation,
humanity deserving the greater share
for its sheer superiority
and monopoly on matters cognitive-spiritual
engaging with its soul? 

Who’s to say the natural world
is incompatible with a universal spirituality
when grief and loss
as well as celebration are plain to see
in species other than human?
Who’s to say, too,
that were humanity fail to survive
its own demands and prejudices, there would be
no new Dawn of History? 

Human mind-body-spirit, at risk for being in denial
of the natural world’s being part of its whole...

 Copyright R. N. Taber 2021

 

 

 

Past-Present-Future, Ringing the Changes

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

Overheard recently, two macho-looking guys pausing to light cigarettes while wheeling prams on a Saturday morning: 

1^st man: “I’m sick of hearing about climate change and how we all need to all do our bit to save the planet. It’s been us against the planet for thousands of years and it’s still messing with us, but we’re still here and so’s the damn planet so... what’s the problem? We’re survivors, right? I mean to say, you’ve only got to see how far we’ve come. I mean, it’s History, right, moving forward and all that? History isn’t suddenly about to put the brakes on, well, is it, I mean to say...” 

2^nd: man: (Shrugs) “History is as the likes of you and me do, I guess. We’ve got things wrong in the past and you only have to listen to The News to know we’re still not getting everything right. (Shrugs again) So maybe we need to take a long, hard look at what we are doing and start pulling together instead of trying to put one over on each other all the time... 

Babies start crying 

Both men (Laughing): “Saved by the bell!” (Moving on) 

What can I say? Two machos wheeling prams and Climate Change getting a look-in has to be good start... right?  Or... yes, what...? 

PAST-PRESENT-FUTURE, RINGING THE CHANGES 

No wind in the trees,
not even the lightest of breezes
to cajole human ears
into listening out for ethereal voices
expressing peace, love,
and that old standby, hope, waiting
for mind-body-spirits to call
them in from as bitter and lasting a cold
as lives but left to grow old 

No flickers of light,
nor even the faintest hint of sun,
moon or stars
to suggest the planet is even alive still,
or else as indifferent
to pain inflicted by its own sense
of crisis, as its better parts
to the pleas of a collective consciousness
for a greater self-awareness 

World, keeps turning,
all humanity ringing its changes,
meaning to sing is praises
while being put through its paces sooner
than later, a nagging need
to keep up appearances taking priority
over its harsher realities
rather than demand its global powerhouses
confront certain home truths 

Re-awakening, the spirit
of past-present-future configuring
human history,
doing its best to fire such engines as keep
a global consciousness
more in step with a common humanity
than have its vanities
see those home truths continuing to mutate
by way of political debate 

Now, feeling, the lightest
of breezes come to reassure me
that I, Reasoning may yet
get the better of all human nature seeks
to divide and let fall,
any picking up and reworking left
to an innate mind-body-spirit
encouraged by regenerative powers of nature
(ill-defined by human history.) 

Copyright R. N. Taber, 2021

 

 

Kingdom Come, an Eco-Artist's Impression

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

Today's poem first appeared on the blog in 2010

While  the coronavirus is not on the wane everywhere just yet, and second waves of it are all but inevitable, climate change is unlikely to go away at all; we only have to look at what is happening in Iceland to see how real is the threat that has been looming across the world for years, and underestimated - if not conveniently put to one side - by successive world leaders. A reader asks, do I think Covid-19 could be linked to climate change? Well, I have no idea, any more than I suspect has anyone else, but I wouldn't be surprised ...

What are we doing to the planet? How many more trees must be felled, wildlife lose their habitats (and lives) on land and in the seas before humankind realizes how short sighted it is being? (The old adage is so true, that we rarely - if ever - appreciate what we have until we lose it.)

Will future generations forgive us? (I suspect with great difficulty, if at all.)

It is all very well to acknowledge global warming, but how much longer can we shrug off any blame for it? it? The time to make reparation is by positive action NOW, surely? How many more world conferences and all but meaningless gestures before our politicians risk upsetting this lobby or that and get to grips with the longer-term consequences of playing ostrich?

Too lightly, many people continue to brush such questions and issues aside. After all, they argue, there is plenty of time to save the planet.

Ah, but is there…? It is an old but significant truism that time waits for no one.

Yes, our politicians claim to empathise with Green campaigners, but could they perhaps do (far) more to back up their word with actions…or could it be they are but paying lip service to increasing electorate (and business) concerns?

At school, I once overheard my Religious Education teacher refer to Armageddon as 'the death of  common sense' to which my art teacher commented that it would be an appropriate theme for graffiti art among the corridors of power just about anywhere in the world. 70+ years on, I am inclined to agree with both.

How dare our so-called 'betters' be complacent, close their eyes to unpalatable home truths for fear of losing out in the short term. Too many politicians are hot on rhetoric, at election times in particular, but - as always - the devil is in the detail, and invariably less convincing for anyone who has the time or patience to shovel away  at the rhetoric and see what lies beneath..

Another reader wrote in recently to ask, "We are a common humanity on a common Earth so where is any sense of common responsibility regarding Green issues?"

KINGDOM COME, AN ECO-ARTIST'S IMPRESSION

The sky is red

where once it was blue;

trees turning yellow;

streams, trickles of blood

on a baby's cot...

Time, caught taking a nap

in Earth Mother’s bed

The forest is dead

where once trees grew tall,

birds would nest,

one beast best another

as required…

by nature’s rule of thumb,

its kingdom come

The world, gone quiet

where once people played,

would laugh and sing,

yet sure to best one another

as required …

by nature’s rule of thumb,

our kingdom come

The sky is red

where once it was blue;

trees, turning yellow;

Earth Mother last heard of

treading mud,

weeping the world’s playing

Truth or Dare...?

Copyright R. N. Taber 2020

One of Us

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

An English teacher at my secondary school, way back in the 1950's, once commented that ‘It is not the size of a tree but its perfect beauty that makes us feel small and aware of our imperfections, as nature intended.’ I remember that comment some 50+ years on while I have forgotten most if not all the curriculum he ever taught.

Deforestation and the removal of trees for property development worldwide is a sacrilege against nature, but not untypical of human shortsightedness, its being a hugely significant factor in saving us from climate change ...  and ourselves?  A rowing world population mean more affordable housing and this, in turn, requires the land on which to build them. Even so, we must never forget that we need trees for our protection and our mental health in the sense that they are inspiring features of any landscape; their natural beauty can help us stay on top of everyday life at times when we can barely summon the strength and willpower to get through it. 

Regular readers will know that I suffered a bad nervous breakdown way back in the 1970's; it was walking among trees in a local park that played a significant part in my recovery. Since then, I have feared a relapse and sought inspiration from various aspects of nature every single day, simply as a human being who also happens to be a poet.; it has worked, and I cope with stress better than I have ever done.

“All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost.”
- J. R. R. Tolkien (Lord of the Rings)

'When the axe came into the forest, the trees said “The handle is one of us.' Turkish proverb.

Yes, oh, yes, the human mind-body-spirit need our trees ... and not just for axe handles.

ONE OF US or BURY THE LEAVES, SAVE THE TREES 

Splendid tree, shades

of green caught up in combat

with a rising insurgency;

patched-up leaves, shades

of red under relentless attack

from native forces

Branches, groaning

for knowing limitations placed

on input and outcome;

canny leaves, anticipating 

Big Combo, taking advantage

of cloud cover

Falling leaves, piling

at the feet of a parent tree

left to watch and weep;

dying leaves, with more

to offer than a half blind Earth

living with heart failure

Dead leaves, poultices

for wounds News editors

will use for headlines;

splendid tree, hopes pinned

on its surgeon, anticipating spring,

and home birds returning

Copyright R. N. Taber 2010, 2020

[Note: An earlier version of today’s poem under the title 'Bury the Leaves, Save the Trees' was first  published in Poetry Rivals: A New Dawn Breaks, Forward Press, 2010 an subsequently in my collection, Tracking the Torchbearer, Assembly Books, 2012.] 

Getting it Together, a Moral Tale OR Upside Down, Come Right Side Up

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

As regular readers know, I was in the proverbial closet for many years, when attitudes towards LGBT people were largely ignorant, bigoted and intolerant to say the least. Eventually, I overcame all that, and told the world I'm gay; if the world didn't like it...too bad.

We have pro-LGBT legislation here in the UK, but homophobia remains as alive and kicking as ever; nor is being bisexual or transgender much easier than it has ever been if only because you cannot legislate for human nature. Having a go at others because they are 'different' seems to be something of a blood sport for some people; one of many reasons I steer well clear of social media. I am not afraid of trolls, but have better things to do than even have to think about them.

I have always posted the occasional gay-interest poem on both blogs, and my having done so with several poems lately seems to have gone down well with those readers who - for whatever reason - only ever access one or the other; this poem, too will appear on both blogs.

I guess we all need to get it together from time to time, and make decisions that will have a huge impact on our own lives as well as the lives of others. Sitting on the proverbial fence never got anyone anywhere fast.

GETTING IT TOGETHER, A MORAL TALE or UPSIDE DOWN, COME RIGHT SIDE UP

Once, an Ordinary Joe
was in pieces, in a so-frantic town,
wanting to look a world
in the eye that was upside down
try hard as O J might,
a growing self-consciousness
refused to put things right

Upside down worlds
make a mountain of everyday life,
its anti-heroes ever struggling
with the consequences of daily strife
reinforcing divisions,
disputing multiple points of view
on its politics and religions

Upside down mountains
offer no more than a distorted view
of some hellish landscape;
no beauty here, not so much as a clue
as to the intentions
of Earth Mother, last seen weeping
multiple carbon emissions

Woke up one morning
to a lark' song celebrating its freedom
of the skies, even with pit folk
so often assumed deaf, blind and dumb
to a right-side-up world
letting the worst of human nature
all but have the last word

Now, a new lease of life
for Earth Mother's messaging humanity;
ignored by the local bully
packing a knife, enjoying a notoriety
egging him on to stab someone,
only to end up on the receiving end
in some hellish prison

Better, by far than that, am I,
as human as any in the cold light of a day
that would deny me taking pride
in embracing a 'me' that's openly gay
as friend, mentor, lover...
in a world that's finally come right-side-up
for my getting it together


Copyright R. N. Taber 2019

Entries in a (Human) Nature Diary

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

Many people - even some in high places who should know better - continue to insist that climate change is scaremongering, fake news or a ploy to distract the path of progress from serving certain business interest enabling  the rich to get even richer while the poor are left struggling to survive for being unable to afford either a healthy diet or take advantage of some brilliant health project to save the world. but likely to cost the earth.

There is scientific evidence- not to mention a rising human death toll -  that global weather patterns  are changing, yet still we hear views along the lines of "That may well be the case, but there's nothing much I can do about it. Let someone else take responsibility, politicians for example.They are elected to serve out best interests so...let them get on with it and see us all safe rather than sorry."

Nothing you or I can do about it? On our own, no, but if people were actively encouraged to play their parts, this sorry world of ours just might be in with an even chance of surviving the worst. Don't we owe it to future generations to make sure they have a future, for goodness sake? I hear religious people saying we should not worry because, whatever happens, this or that dogma assures us God will see us right. Wrong. While I do not subscribe to any religion, nor can I envisage any God seeing humankind right for (largely) choosing to justify its own wrongs along the lines of "Oh, well, that's life."

Me? I do what I can, and yes, it is nowhere near enough, but if everyone did what they could that would make a real difference. As it is, many people don't even bother to recycle properly even where their Local Authority provides the means. Car engines are left running, while their owners shop at stores within easy walking distance from where they live. Whatever happened to walking, by the way, just for the pleasure of it? As someone with mobility problems so need a walking stick, I really miss it. Mind you, the stick appears to be invisible to the push 'n' shove brigade whether I am walking or using public transport. Or maybe they are right, after all, who tell us - that's life...?

Hamlet battles with his conscience in the famous soliloquy, 'To be or not to be...'. Dare I suggest, Do or Die, that is the question with which the human race needs must wrestle with its conscience?

Oh, but enough said, I suspect, if not more than enough of a rant for one post...

ENTRIES IN A (HUMAN) NATURE 

Subtle changes in autumnal light
are closing in on gardens countrywide
as the hands of its clocks
signal the passing of a lovely evening
into multifarious shades of grey

Less subtle, sounds of trudging feet
as the homeless seek a place to rest awhile
(perchance to sleep)
as clocks in the head tick off another day
of someone's battling to get a life

Darker shades of grey, closing in
on gardens countrywide, signal its birds
to sleep, leave nightingales
singing of peace and love take the strain
of falling on deaf ears

Gone black now, shades of autumn
surrendering to the dark of night, no stars
in the sky nor even a moon
able to penetrate a thick blanket of cloud,
heavens closed for repairs

No shelter available a homeless man
other than the grubby porch of a shop left
empty for several years,
profitable enough once, till business rates
demanding an unfair cut

Ah, but moon and stars forcing an entry,
not to be put to shame by such street lights
as have escaped vandals;
the homeless man being led out of the cold
by volunteer charity workers

Such unsubtle changes in day and night
as closing in on wildlife habitats worldwide,
guide the hands of its clocks,
signal a need for change, home and abroad,
before time runs out for us all

Will you take us in, old moon-with-a-grin,
make way for a new tech copycat Noah's Ark
long, long before then?
Dare a world where progress is everything,

risk being left with nothing?

Subtle changes in autumnal light close in

on gardens worldwide, the hands of clock faces

covering human eyes

that will not see, any ears that will not hear,

for fear of having to do or die

Copyright R. N. Taber, 2019

Lines on last-ditch Damage Limitation

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

Better late than never, humankind appears to be finally waking up to its responsibility to preserve as much of the natural world as it can, given the damage already inflicted upon it in the name of progress.

Let us not kid ourselves, though. Time, always determined to go its own way regardless, is not on our side. If we want to save the planet and all manner of species that have known no other habitat, we all need to pull together now;   each and every one of us doing our bit to save energy, lower carbon emissions drastically if not entirely, think Green instead of relying on others to do so, thereby easing conscience and any sense of responsibility (providing we concede either) … and, yes, we might just save a world worth living in for future generations.

Our young people and their descendants deserve better than the kind of apathy so many people in the Here-and-Now continue to exhibit towards such issues as conservation, regeneration, improving air quality and cleaning up our rivers, seas and oceans - to name just a few. As I see it, quality of life is more important than life for its own sake, and if we don’t all start showing the natural world greater respect now, future generations will be seeing red, not green, and blaming twenty-first century apathy, greed, and an egocentricity beyond belief.

I had a conversation along these lines with someone in a shop recently while queuing to be served. This person took the view that “at least old people like yourself have no cause to worry about what might happen. Even if the worst comes to the worst, you’ll be long gone.”

But I do worry, and so should we all, regardless of who we are or where in the world we live or there may well come a time when it will be too late to worry about what might happen because it already has …

LINES ON LAST-DITCH DAMAGE LIMITATION

In a world top-heavy with pain and grief,

it takes but a butterfly caught in a ray

of sunshine to remind us that Earth Mother

is on our side, each and every minute

of each and every day, ready to give us

a hug when we need it most, remind us life

may be but a fleeting thing yet beautiful

and all the more precious and worth savouring

every moment for that

In a world top-heavy with pain and grief,

it takes but the laughter of a child

running to its mother across home ruins

war, terror or an angry Earth Mother

may well have tried to get across a message

invariably ignored by forces intent only

on making themselves heard above any calls

for peace, love, reconciliation, agreeing to differ

in a so-divided world

In a world top-heavy with pain and grief,

it is good to wake to a dawn chorus,

provided by its birds among trees acting

as Guardians of the Earth since birth

if poorly served in return by we saboteurs

of the natural world so accustomed

to putting our needs first that we forgot

humankind needs see to co-existing responsibly

with nature or pay dearly

Listen. Hear (all) species of land, sea, and sky

demanding we live and let live … or (all) die

Copyright R. N. Taber 2019

Finding Neverland

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

This poem was written while I was recovering from a bad nervous breakdown in the early 1980’s. I found it buried under various documents for which I no longer have any use, and thought some readers might be interested.  Writing - especially poetry - helped me through that breakdown to a new job nearly 4 years later, one that would take me to retirement in 2008.

FINDING NEVERLAND

Oh, to ride a cloud

out of Nowhere, carrying me

Somewhere

Somewhere,

all varieties of plant and animal

in harmony

Somewhere,

no acid rain or polluted oceans,

only beauty

Somewhere,

no hint of war or double dealings,

only peace

Somewhere,

no hate crime grabbing headlines,

only love

Somewhere,

no socio-cultural-religious dogma,

only humanity

It’s cloud nine

to Somewhere, only ever dumps us

back Here

Here, there…

round trip to Neverland where hope

springs eternal

Copyright R. N. Taber 1983; 2018

A Meeting of Minds at the Last Chance Saloon

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

One of my favourite subjects at school some 50+ years ago was History, not least because we had a teacher who made history come alive in in the mind’s eye. I well recall Mr Vickers - fondly known as ‘Chopper’ by generations of schoolkids - telling the class to bear in mind that History hates to lose face. He went to comment along the lines that, just as many if not most of us are inclined to be less than honest when reflecting on home truths, so it is with history. Consequently, he added with a characteristic chuckle, history is paved with excuses. 

I have since come to understand how it is invariably in the light of these excuses that events are recorded, re-recorded and often ‘adapted’ to reconcile with contemporary opinion according to this or that point of view.  

Fortunately, I also had an excellent English teacher at the same school [ 'Jock' Rankin] who taught us how to identify elements of bias in both factual and fictional writings as well as various media presentations. There is nothing wrong with bias, he would say, so long as we recognise it as such and make up our own minds.

On the whole, I hated my schooldays, but looking back I see now how, as an Education for Life, they excelled. Even so...50+ years ago, and what's really changed?  Well, not human nature, for a start...

A MEETING OF MINDS AT THE LAST CHANCE SALOON

Should global warming kill us all,
even Earth Mother may not survive
but as one among stars poised fall;
among its remains, nothing left alive

They say humankind fails to consider
that nature might turn and retaliate
for killing off trees, failing to nurture
respect for bird or beast until too late

We hear much talk of saving habitats,
ending world poverty, famine, wars,
as the poor grow poorer to feed fat cats,
old gods and new, settling old scores

Oh, but there’s politics, sure to save us  
from worms haunting its mass graves,
last-ditch rhetoric for wannabe saviours
still burning its oil in midnight's caves

Copyright R. N. Taber 2007; 2016

Rites of Silence, Fingers of Blame OR Survival, a Collective Responsibility

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

Time and again, we feel inclined to silently lament how there is nothing we can do about this or that, while expecting someone to do something.

There is always something we can do, even if it is only to lend someone a helping hand or shoulder to cry on or (better still, more often than not) speak up for them.

Arguments rage worldwide while fingers of blame point to the damage humankind is inflicting on the planet. Indeed, there seems to be a majority conscience on the streets that something needs to be done…before it is too late for future generations.

So just whose ear does Earth Mother have, and how effective can we expect it to be, the voice of this majority conscience demanding our leaders listen to and respect our greater hopes and worst fears…and whose silence is deafening?

'Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph.' - Haile Selassie

This poem is a villanelle.

RITES OF SILENCE, FINGERS OF BLAME or SURVIVAL, A COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITY

We've heard Earth Mother crying

dutifully considered speaking up often
but chose to say...what, nothing? 

Wherever our senses reaching,

(restless dreams, at work or play even)

we've heard Earth Mother crying

Finally placed on a war footing,
in all conscience asking we be forgiven,

but chose to say...what, nothing?

A welcome peace celebrating

an end to all battles hard lost, hard won;

we've heard Earth Mother crying

The politics of blame resuming,

pointing out certain voices that complain,

but chose to say...what, nothing?

Her weary vigil forever keeping,

world putting its interests second to none,

we've heard Earth Mother crying,

but chose to say...what, nothing?

Copyright R. N. Taber 2004; 2018

[Note: This poem has been significantly revised (2015) from a version that first appeared under the title Who’s Sorry Now in an anthology - The Bread of Life, Triumph House (Forward Press) 2004 - and subsequently in  The Third Eye by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2004; revised edition in e-format in preparation.]