Witness for the Prosecution

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

This is a poem about the darker side of London. Tragically, it could equally apply to just about any major city or large town in the world where we pause and look around sometimes, despair, and demand not only answers but also action.

Glossy tourist brochures may like to pretend otherwise, but most places, like most people, have a dark side. Perhaps we should open our eyes to it more often?  Yes, we should enjoy exploring these places. London and other great cities across the world have much to offer the discerning visitor. At the same time, is not forewarned, forearmed...?

WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION

I’ve seen all ages on a city's streets
beg coins for bus fares or worse,
even steal a blind woman’s purse,
mock a one-legged man’s affliction
then yell “Persecution!” at passing
coppers for trying to do their duty
by some council estate community
suffering daily from the traumas
of kids without conscience, let alone
good manners (fat chance!) bent
on leading the locals a rare dance,
skipping school, drinking, smoking
this ‘n’ that, setting themselves up
as victims of society once caught out,
 all the more pitiable for having slipped
through Propriety’s safety net

No matter ethnicity, gender or creed,
this new breed of street urchin
whose familiarity with Human Rights
racism and other discrimination
would be admirable but for their using it
(more often than not) to turn tables
on any decent citizen resolved to support
law, order, and everyday commonsense,
though as likely to receive rough justice
from the law courts as back streets…
Knives - and guns - not unfamiliar sights
so no wonder fewer of us willing to say
what we may well have  heard or seen out
of fear for family and friends being made
to pay, no hold barred where any criminality
pitted against social responsibility

Oh, and what do the mayors and PM make
of all this? Oh, plenty to say, a limitless
supply of token gestures as we city dwellers
grow ever more anxious for answers

Copyright R. N. Taber 2007

[This poem has been slightly revised from the original version as it appears under the title 'Witness for the Prosecution' in Accomplices to Illusion by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2007.]

Hello, Here-and-Now

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

A gay-friendly reader writes that "My young brother-in-law is gay, but too ashamed to tell anyone except my wife, his sister. He is 17, a great lad, and  we don't know what to do or say. Any ideas?" I can't advise, but hopefully the poems speaks for itself, not least because it is more than a little autobiographical.  I have only been openly gay since my late 30's, and am in my 70's now. I grew up at a time when gay relationships were a criminal offence here in the UK, and even after the law was changed in the late 1960's, bigots continued to have a field day for years, many still do. (Yes, even here, in the so-called 'liberal minded' West.)

Confronting home truths is never easy, but it is a crucial first step; self-awareness is not enough. We have to start believing in ourselves or how can we ask anyone else to believe in us? No one chooses to be gay, we are but as nature intended; the chances are we inherit genes related to family members from other generations. Whatever, it is an integral part of a person's identity, nothing to be ashamed of although misleading stereotypes circulating and expanded upon for centuries are as often taken to be true; there is nothing new about fake news. Social media has a lot to answer for too; an open invitation to bigots and bullies  especially where sexual identity issues are concerned.  As I have asked time and again  since I began writing up the blogs ten years ago - what's wrong with agreeing to differ? Various socio-cultural-religious communities don't help with agendas for peace and love which pass for dogma, but are invariably critical of anyone who dares diversify from so-called 'norms'.

In recent years I began to think LGBT communities were winning hearts and minds, and there are more gay-friendly people about than ignorant bigots although, tragically, we gays remain no strangers to hate crime worldwide.

Yes, it can be tough, being gay, but it is a tough world out there and we are (all) up against a human nature as complex as it is fickle. 

My suggestion to this young man would be to search the Internet for any LGBT groups that he can easily access, and join one; another is never, but never assume a straight person is the enemy. My gay-friendly reader is by no means alone in taking people as he finds them without judging them, least of all for their sexuality; sexual identity may be an integral part of who we are, but there is far more to all of us than that.

Yes, I know I have said all this before, but as my mother used to say, if something is worth saying, it is always worth repeating.

"HELLO" HERE-AND-NOW

Yesterday,

much the same, fears,

since early hours,

dreading a new dawn

(yet again)

wishing the day gone before it puts me

out for garbage

Yesterday,

all but wishing myself dead

(but not quite)

desperate for reasons

to carry on,

finding none to fan even a single flame

of inspiration

Today

I can’t make it through;

everything

I say, everything I do

coming out wrong

I just want to run away, hide somewhere;

oh, But where?

Today

I feel exposed to passers-by

staring at me,

even glaring at me,

as if suspecting

I am sick at heart, and all but falling apart

within and without

Today

a stranger smiled at me,

said “Hello”

before a growing crowd

ate him up

but his smile, kept company with me all day,

saved me from free fall

Tomorrow

I will look out for any smiles,

ignore glares,

might even dare a “Hello”

here and there,

give positive feedback the chance it deserves

to help mend frayed nerves

Tomorrow

I, too, will test a friendly grin

on a world

where hate crime on the rise,

(no surprises there)

and seek out others just like me, still growing into

life, love - and sexuality

Tonight,

I find myself looking at M-E

on a rack

not of my own choosing,

blaming society,

time to take responsibility for myself, and get a life,

start thinking positively

Tonight,

a Coming of Age for a latecomer

to self-esteem;

time to challenge my dreams,

get real somehow,

hopefully take a lover (two of a kind) endgame, peace

of mind

Copyright R. N. Taber 2020

[Note: This poet/poems also appears on my gay-interest blog today for obvious reasons. Feedback, though, suggests that many closet gay readers  - especially those using shared computers - are afraid to access it.]

Nature, Powerhouse of Secrets

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

We may like to think we live in an open society, yet behind closed doors thrive secrets of all kinds, not least the human kind.

Open or less open, the world’s societies (human and natural) along with all their various families and communities - have nurtured a whole world of secrets since the beginning of time, many to which any human mind-body-spirit may yet have access if it but cares to tap into itself while looking to see, listening to hear ... if not necessarily what it wants or expects to see-hear, given the native arrogance of human nature in supposing itself second to none.

For better or worse, appearances are often deceptive; no more or less true of nature than human nature ...

NATURE, POWERHOUSE OF SECRETS

I have heard a spring rain

cajole the world open up to us

a whole world of secrets

I have heard leafy sunshine

serenade flowers with summers

overflowing with secrets

I have heard autumnal hues
reassuring all the world’s lovers

of keeping their secrets

I have heard a wintry wind
express every intention to expose 

even the best kept secrets

Between its womb and tomb,

peace of mind needs must access

a whole world of secrets

Copyright R. N. Taber 2017