A 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].
Sadly, a bad fall in 2012 has left me with a mobility problem, and being diagnosed with prostate cancer the same year hasn't helped, but I get out and about with my trusty walking stick as much as I can, take each day as it comes and try to keep looking on the bright(er) side of life. Many of my poems reflect the need to nurture a positive-thinking mindset whatever life throws at us.
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.]
Have you
ever began working on something you don’t really believe in, but felt you had no
choice... so puting any finishing touches to the task in hand was never really on the cards? You may well have fought against it, given that many if not most of us are inclined to do whatever for a quiet life especially if it means being nagged to get on with it. Yet, at the end of the day, it is not certain people who persist in nagging at us but the lack of those very finishing touches itself; it leaves us feeling not only dissatisfied with our work, but also questioning our resistance to properly completing the job in the first place...so much so sometimes that we find ourselves, if not coming round to that to same point of view with which we found ourselves at loggerheads, at least able to enter into it, grasp something of where it was coming from - to the extent, more often than not, that we cannot leave the job unfinished if only because our hearts tell us it's the right thing to do, even if we are never quite sure why. Oh, we may choose to put it all down to pride in a job well done, but at heart we may well suspect it is more than that; whether or not we choose to look any further, though, that is down to a sense of conscience we may or may not prefer to own; it is in the latter wherein lies a job but half done, and likely to nag us for the best part of a lifetime...although if it means we never stop asking questions - of ourselves and humanity in general - it may not be such a bad thing after all...
‘What
an ugly beast the ape, and how like us.’ – Cicero (106 BC - 43 BC)
A JOB HALF DONE or PLANET OF THE APES
Builder,
pondering
a job half
done, frowning
under a
baseball cap...
(So ,
what he’s looking at?)
Eco-warriors, armed
with principles in defence
of treasured open spaces
being eroded by developers
reaping the rewards
of feeding bricks and mortar
to human apes homing in
on concrete jungles, parodies
of natural worlds
Builder,
pondering
a job
half done, distant grin
under a
baseball cap…
(So what's he’s looking at?)
Not scaffolding
for brand
new offices meant
to keep
fat cats happy
once
staff won over to the view
that a
bird in the hand
is worth two
in any hedgerow,
and he
should know
with a
wife, three kids, behind
with the
mortgage
Builder
at work
on a job half
done, furrows
under a
baseball cap…
(Now what’s
he looking at?)
Towers,
like trees, in skies
where
birds fly like toy
airplanes
and drop like skydivers
on the
backs of eco-warriors
guarding
nature’s own
from fat cats on the make
that
don’t care, can walk away.
a job well done. time to move on
to the next land grab
Copyright R. N. Taber 2004; 2014
[Note:
revised (2014) from an earlier version that appears under the title A Job Half DoneinThe
Third Eyeby R. N. Taber,
Assembly Books, 2004.]
Several
readers have asked when I intend to record more of my poems for You Tube. Well,
soon I hope. However, Graham, my close friend and cameraman works full-time so
is not often available and I have been unable to get anyone else interested.
For those
of you who may be interested but haven’t yet seen and heard my capers on You
Tube,
We only
do it for fun (and that includes heading straight for the nearest pub
afterwards) but hopefully people will enjoy our efforts. I will be posting more
on You Tube throughout the year, weather and cameraman availability permitting.
Meanwhile...
The world's growing population requires that we provide for its housing and other needs. We should not forget, though, that nature provides not only for its own protection but ours too. Our taking from nature without giving back is already making itself menacingly felt in various ways, and will likely haunt future generations with even greater menace. Deforestation especially, leaves us all exposed to climate change,
EARMARKED FOR DEVELOPMENT
Archived, children at play
where
once were trees and grass;
echoes of sunny laughter
but splinters of broken glass
Carefree voices, last heard
drifting away like autumn leaves;
carbuncles springing up
where Earth Mother grieves
Manna for the developers,
demand ever outstripping supply;
grass all concreted over,
(a time to live, a time to die?)
Nobody left likely to recall
how things were once-upon-a-tree
come nature, fairy tale...
Carbuncles, the new poetry
Copyright R. N. Taber 2004; 2016
[Note: An earlier version of this poem appears in The Third Eye by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2004; rev. ed. in e-format in preparation.]
[Update July 29th 2019: The world s beginning to wake up to the threat of climate change. Better late than never, although some pf its major players (like US President Donald Trump, to name just one continue to insist it is fake news. Let's all hope it is not too late for future generations.] RT
It is GOOD that (at last!) the world is starting to take climate change seriously, and accepting some responsibility for it. Even so, I can’t help thinking it is too little too late…especially as humankind is, on the whole, inclined to put its immediate needs first; immediate, but often (well) above and beyond the basics. Food, shelter and affordable housing are constantly put at risk by corporate greed funded by the wealthy intent upon getting wealthier and supported by the kind of back-door politics at which so many politicians excel.
There are, of course, a lot of good people out there if outnumbered by the bad. (The expression, 'the smile on the face of a tiger' springs to mind…)
It will be down to future generations to make the best (or worst, as the case may be) of the mess we have made and continue to make of our planet with whatever resources available and, hopefully, a generous dose of sound common sense.
Whatever happened to priorities? It is bad enough that many people continue to bury their heads in the sand and pretend global warming is a fiction. How a significant number of those same people can continue to rage against gay relationships, for example, while playing down if not ignoring what has to be one of the greatest threats to the human race we will ever face is beyond my comprehension.
WEEPING OZONE, SLEEPWALKING WORLD
Terror in the sky, likely to bring
about the destruction of our planet;
rivers run dry, poisoned plants,
beasts of the wild starved of a will
to live, birds of the air unable
to take wing, too weak to sing even;
fishes in the sea, last to survive
nature’s very own Armageddon,
no end of tears in the ozone
Fear enough to melt glaciers,
seed mountains, valleys, urban oases
of wishful thinking among
fortune hunters quick to seize the day,
make a killing for profit (or kicks)
in human as well as animal trade-offs,
heart sleeves of the best cloth,
faux promises dead in the water,
potential eulogy for humanity
Panic in forests stripped of trees
meant to protect us in mean streets,
androids forced to their knees
by silicon gods competing to be first
to clone eternity, any semblance
of morality but a vainglorious sterility
glossing over forsworn obligations
to generations left rummaging nature
for crumbs of survival
To the earth, a relentless rush of pain
its peoples shrug off as acid rain
Copyright R. N. Taber 2014; 2018
[Note: An earlier version of this poem appears in The Third Eye: poems by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2004 under the title 'Under Threat'; rev title 2018.]
Enjoying
nature has to be one of life’s greatest pleasures. Here in the UK, as elsewhere in the world, it is down to each and every one of us to save as many of its green and pleasant places and wildlife habitats as possible for future generations...or they will not easily forgive us, if ever.
REQUIEM FOR A SKYLARK
On tuneful wing, our seasons
scanning, circles and dips
anxiously a covenant
with Earth's poetry, where
once a nesting tree
grew tall
Now, a shopping
mall
NATURE TRAIL
Follow leafy trails
into red and orange,
silver, green;
let the dew of life
wash clean our
dirty hands;
be still, antic winds
till nothing's heard
but an egg-bird;
a tear in the eye,
all our yesterdays
on standby
[From:First
Person Pluralby R. N.
Taber, Assembly Books, 2002]
While
this overcrowded island of ours badly needs more (affordable) housing, we must protect what remains of our green
and pleasant land. So many birds are losing their natural habitats. This is not only bad news for the, but bad news for us too.
Let’s
all speak up to save our trees and woodlands, and make sure there are always
green fields nearby for everyone to
enjoy, especially our children, and wildlife too…
POOR
SPARROW
Once
a village, quickly became a town;
green
fields now a housing estate
where
we lowered poor sparrow down
In
lanes we’d watch the harvest sown,
now
highways, commuters running late;
once
a village, quickly became a town
Of
daisies a tree nymph’s spring gown
within
creak, squeak, of a trellis gate
where
we lowered poor sparrow down
More
peace and quiet than ever known,
though
small politics its fishwives berate;
once
a village, quickly became a town
Office
blocks where kites once flown,
nature’s
finest gone for cheapskate
where
we lowered poor sparrow down
Long
years past, we children grown,
memories
like sunlight on wet roof slate;
once
a village, quickly became a town
where
we lowered poor sparrow down
[From:Accomplices To Illusionby R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2010]
Nature may be fickle, but so is human nature; the chances are whoever
takes the last donkey ride will look around and see a coastline that’s nowhere
near as sound or green as we see now or may have done centuries ago; even the
sea is losing its wildlife to a polluted modernity.
Humankind may we rail against
nature where it wreaks havoc and tragedy, the greater irony being that, in our
desperation to harness and make it serve our own ends, there is really little
to choose between the two.
Most if not all we human beings are
vain enough to think we deserve priority over the natural world. Could it be,
though, that Earth Mother has other ideas?
THE LAST
DONKEY RIDE
Time and
again you have passed me by,
turned a
cloth ear to cries from a heart
begging its release or at least some relief
from such
pain as only they know
who roam the shores of life asking Why?"
In spite
of those willing to lend a hand
where the
need is greatest, you deny
ignore, the rhetoric of discretion being
much the
better part of valour
So weary
am I of being taken for a ride,
on wings
of a prayer or bored donkeys
at the
seaside reassuring children
how sand
shells tell tales of a golden age
not yet
spent … where the sea is as safe
as the
sky is blue, grass is green and corn
grows
high, hopes for world peace
alive and well
if but sailing on driftwood
among time’s uneasy
swell
How long
can it last, me doing my best
for kith and kin, you abandoning us
to empty
words, promises of better days,
world left railing against humankind’s
inhumanity,
sure to get the better of me
without
even a native dignity to cover
my
blushes as they strip me bare, caring
little more
in their naivety for my decline
than our mutual salvation?
Hear me, your Earth Mother in distress,
ye who engineer the Politics of Progress
Copyright R. N. Taber 2010
[Note: An earlier version of this poem appears in On the Battlefields of Loveby R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2010]
This collection is still in print, but only on sale
in the UK. All readers, including any
outside the UK, can obtain (signed) copies direct from me at a generous blogger
discount on [retail price + shipping]. Enquiries to: rogertab@aol.com
with ‘Poetry collection’ or ‘Blog reader’ in the subject field.
[Update 5/1/17: All my poetry collections are out of print and it is unlikely there will be any print (revised) editions; they sold well (for poetry) but I had to self-publish them because no poetry publishers were willing to combine general and gay-interest poetry. I am in the process of preparing revised editions in e-format for Google Play but this is likely to take some time as I am in my 70's now and am kept busy overcoming various health problems.]RT
[Update April 2016: I read this poem over a video shot by my friend Graham Collett for my You Tube channel some time ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvoS6PLKqSA Some readers have said the previous link does not work so I have copied and reinstated it; if it still does not work, go to my channel and search under title. As feedback suggests some of you cannot always access YouTube for one reason or another, I have also posted the video below.]
Today’s poem has not appeared on the blog before, I included it among some 100+ others in my new collection, divided into seven themed sections for easy reading. Let’s face it. No one sits down and reads a poetry book so I have made it easy for readers to (hopefully) makes the most of all my collections; he or she can dip into one section of about 20-25 poems now and then before dipping into another at his or her leisure.
I hope to be around for a few more years yet. Even so, I am always aware that when my time is up, the blogs will vanish into cyberspace and all that will remain of my poems (and me) will be in my collections. The sum total of my collections is a diary of journeys short and long, delightful and grim, that comprise my life. Anyone who cares to read them may or may not discern which poems have their roots in autobiography and which do not, but even imagination has to be nurtured by a creative mind, and the mind of poet has to be worth exploring. Well, doesn’t it...?
.
Now, regular readers will know how much I love trees. I am fortunate to live near Hampstead Heath and have written several poems about it that express, if only in part, the immense satisfaction I take from strolling among its grassy slopes and ponds, but especially admiring its splendid trees of all varieties. Needless to say, I am a passionate about Green issues.
My HERO IS A TREE
(for Val Berry)
Leaves on my hero are budding,
the music of spring as sweet as ever heard;
swallows returning bring life
to field and valley, filling the lonely heart
with thoughts of love;
Leaves on my hero are singing
songs of summer as feisty as passion;
young folks laughing bring life
to field and valley, filling hearts growing old
with memories of love;
Leaves on my hero are turning
read and gold in the company of dreams,
swallows departing, sure to return
to field and valley while hearts young and old
fly the colours of love;
Leaves on my hero are drifting
across time and space, world without end;
tears of pain, joy and hope
flying field and valley like bright-eyed children
running with kites;
Leaves on my hero are budding;
the music of spring as sweet as ever heard;
swallows returning bring life
to field and valley, as well as new takes on old tales
we tell on love;
Leaves on my hero are singing
songs of summer as feisty as passion;
young folks laughing bring life
to field and valley, teasing hearts growing old
for knowing nothing of love;
Leaves on my hero are turning
red and gold in the company of dreams;
swallows departing, sure to return
to field and valley while hearts young and old,
fly the colours of love;
Leaves on my hero are drifting
time and space, world without end;
tears of pain, joy and hope
flying field and valley, the children we were,
running with kites
Copyright R. N. Taber, 2012, 2021
(Note: this poem has been only slightly revised since it first appeared in Tracking the Torchbearer by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2012 and also read it on my YouTube channel.) RNT
I suspect historians may well look back at the early 21st century and portray us as a bunch of sadomasochists!
Who could blame them, eh?
At least we have now our first Green Party MP here in the UK so maybe there's hope for us all yet and people will stop thinking that voting Green is a wasted vote. Let's face it. The G8/20 leaders aren't going to do much for us...for all their huffing and puffing.
BEATING UP THE PLANET
Running a gamut of earthquakes,
beating the flames
Sheltering in Iraq from bullets
beating down
Watching children of a lesser god
beating up butterflies
Letting our leaders get away with
beating drums
Standing for democracy’s bouncers
beating up flowers
Paying a price for politic players
beating the odds
Treating poverty’s weeping wounds,
(beating its hunger?)
Singing praises to a Greater Power,
(beating terror?)
Preparing to swim with polar bears,
beating ourselves up
[From: Accomplices to Illusion by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2007]