Raining Stones

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

I have always tried to keep abreast of significant world events and record at least some of them in my poetry. As I compile e-editions of my collections - containing revised poems as they already appear on the blogs - I am adding any poems here that are not currently accessible and may be of interest. 

On 19 March 2011, a multi-state NATO-led coalition began a military intervention in Libya, ostensibly to implement United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973, in response to events during the Libyan Civil War. 

Muammar Gaddafi, the deposed leader of Libya, was captured and killed on 20 October 2011 during the Battle of Sirte. Gaddafi was found hiding in a culvert west of Sirte and captured by National Transitional Council forces. He was killed shortly afterwards. 

The poem below was written as civil war raged in Libya, rebels losing ground to pro-Gadaffi forces...while the rest of the world debated whether or not to intervene; it appeared on the blog at the time, but was later removed due to lack of interest; it appears in my collection, the following year. 

At the time, and being gay myself, I also posted the poem on my gay-interest poetry blog since LGBT Human Rights have long been repressed in Libya. Indeed, since the fall of Gaddafi's regime in 2011, the status regarding homosexuality in Libya remains unchanged. It is high time world societies and communities got real and came to terms with the fact that a common humanity embraces all human nature of which a person's sexuality is fundamental? LGBT folks mean no harm to anyone, deserve better than many stereotypes circulating for years suggest, and simply ask to get on with our lives in peace, just like anyone else.

RAINING STONES

The cry goes up for deliverance,

for humanity’s sake,

from a tyrant’s stony arrogance

Pride plays Lord of the Dance,

(wheels of diplomacy creak);

the cry goes up for deliverance

Across Libya, thousands chance

their very lives to break

from a tyrant’s stony arrogance

United Nations looks on askance

(arguing what action to take);

the cry goes up for deliverance

Dare justice make an appearance,

freedom’s hold re-take

from a tyrant’s stony arrogance?

Oil politics drives Europe’s stance,

(U.S. up for a stake);

the cry goes up for deliverance

from a tyrant’s stony arrogance

[London: March 10^th 2011]

Copyright R. N. Taber 2011

[Note: This poem appears in On the Battlefields of Love by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2010]