Jungle Book

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

“The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man known himself to be a fool.” – William Shakespeare

“The best way out is always through.” – Robert Frost

“Clouds come floating into my life no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add colour to my sunset sky.” - Rabindranath Tagore

Now, reader J. H. has emailed to protest about yesterday’s poem being published on both poetry blogs in so far as “... not everyone is interested in LGBT matters.” He or she goes on to say that “... your poems are barely poetry at all, no imagination, merely a medium to put across your own arguments and points of view. Real poetry, like all art forms, is something beautiful...”

Well, show me an art form that does not express the artist’s point of view and I’ll eat my cloth cap; the thing about art, in any form, is that it attempts to offer points of view that some observers may not have the experience or imagination to consider whether or not they agree disagree with that particular standpoint, whether it be the artist’s or anyone else’s. 

Art forms that are simply admired for what the eye sees, regardless of what voices it whispers in the ear, is barely art at all. So yes, if my poetry fails to attract as many listeners as observers, J. H. is spot on in suggesting it is barely poetry at all...?  Even food for thought needs must be digested with care, or not only is taste is sacrificed, but also digestion...

JUNGLE BOOK

Sudden sky, a livid blue canvas
for live art, as creatures great and small
make their presence known
and felt to any mind-boy-spirit choosing
to host nature’s art work,
engage with a potential for imagination,
escape, if only briefly, the greater
threats to everyday life that it needs must face
in own time and personal space

Lions and elephants, free to roam
jungles where no hunters care to go, no sport
to be had here, only the art
of inner eyes, hosted by escapees from a world
for which there are no words,
only anxiety and pain, well-deserving respite,
heart-and-soul left free to journey
where it may, unshackled from any inhibitions
as would see it lose its way...

Here-and-Now on hold, if only briefly 
while we take cover from slings and arrows,
take pleasure in taking pleasure
for its own sake, letting moving fingers write
words we never learned to say,
paint similes and metaphors in the sky to which
art forms can only aspire, no comfy fire
but a sunburst of imagination out of nowhere,
resembling an elusive Somewhere

I see dragons rearing their scaly heads
alongside fearless sheep and even smiling faces
peering into the real me, reserves
I can draw on whenever I need to raise a grin,
even as I limp home on marathon days,
having to rely on kinder life forces than worldly
aids to see me through,
mind-body-spirit failing, close to dying as living,
yet closer still to an inspired loving

Throughout the day, various skyscapes
invade my thought processes, but never warlike,
even in stormy weather, any images
running for cover, eventually assuming hues
of splendid sunsets inclined,
to message through art forms of its own,
walking, talking shadows
engaging the nature of the art of communication,
in defining and redefining imagination

May any mind-body-spirit that finds itself
walled in by its own inhibitions and inability to see
beyond limited horizons, unite its whole,
let it see-hear-feel such meanings in art that pose
food for thought, make doors of walls,
entrances to such realms of interest and concern
hitherto left unexplored,
lessons yet to be learned, not least for wondering why
there should be jungle creatures in the sky... 

Copyright R. N. Taber, 2022

 

 

Hi everyone, from London UK

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

Hi everyone from London UK,

No poem today but I’m working on one in between the usual chores and hope to publish it here fairly soon. Nothing new here at all, really, but whenever people email me, it is nearly always along much the same lines as this prose post at attempts to cover.

A reader asks why I am revising many poems in the blog archives whole not leaving the originals for readers to compare. Comparisons can always be made with earlier versions that appear in my collections; to date, only a limited number were ever published, but I hope to eventually make them all available online. At the moment, I am struggling to put all unpublished poems (including any revisions) on a memory stick just in case I get ill and cannot press ahead with new collections, in which event my best friend, Graham, has said that he will see to it that they are published; in the meantime, anyone interested can always access any poem here or on my gay-interest poetry blog.

Another reader asks how on earth I manage to write poetry at my age (75) and living alone with a pandemic raging. Well, as I have said before, it is as much a form of creative therapy to take my mind off the coronavirus threat as wanting to communicate my ideas and feelings to anyone who may be interested.

I was a closet gay man for some years, before coming out to all and sundry in my 30’s so the motivation for a gay blog had always been there. Even in the western hemisphere there is still a lot of antipathy towards gay people, especially gay men, worse still if they are raised in any of the world religions. Religion, in the light of my own experience and experiences shared with LGBT folks around the world, from all manner of socio-cultural-religious backgrounds, has proven itself to be our worst enemy. Trying to rise above that and find our way in life can be really tough, especially where family and friends feel, for whatever reason, they cannot be supportive.#

Closets have to be among the loneliest places on the planet and those trapped in them need to know that they are not alone and there is nothing wrong or sinful about a sexual orientation that does not conform to so-called social, moral or religious conventions. We are born as we are. Asked if I would have chosen not to be gay, I would probably answer ‘yes' - not because I am ashamed of my sexuality, but because life would have been so much less complicated; dealing with our own feelings can be hard enough (for anyone) but having to deal with other people’s prejudices and misperceptions can prove a waking nightmare.

Poetry, of course, attempts to reach out to everyone; as the poet climbs his or her own learning curve so the reader is invited to follow their train of thought, not in any didactic sense but with a view to inviting an understanding of viewpoints with which they many not be familiar and/ or have been raised to believe are ‘unnatural.’ As I point out on the blogs so often, we are each and every one of us, part of a common humanity; our differences do not make us different, only human. Of course, there is good and bad in most people and both deserve to be treated accordingly, but no one deserves to be judged according to such common stereotypes as many people are drawn to like magnets. I was raised a Christian, but the suggestion in the Holy Bible - essentially common to any religious way of thinking – how we should be aware that none of us are perfect, and before we judge and condemn others may do well do to take a long, honest look at our inner selves; giving way to temptation, may well deserve punishment, but being able to resist temptation doesn’t necessarily make us a ‘better’ person, just stronger.  

Tragically, many people continue to suffer in silence, afraid of seeking support for fear of being judged, but I would recommend self-help groups to anyone; the boost to self-esteem can be amazing, just for being with people who share a common problem, and feel able to share those feelings, freely and without embarrassment, on a common learning curve that makes the problem so much easier to live with if not overcome completely. Yes, you’ will have heard it all before, and I’m not anything new, so why are there still so many closets in the world and so many people feeling trapped in them, for whatever reason?  Religion has no more a monopoly on a sense of spirituality than some LGBT folks have a monopoly on closets. Choice lies, not in what kind of closet we feel closing in on us, but how we find a way out of it. Never easy, but always worth the effort…

Many thanks for dropping by,

Take care, and continue to nurture a positive-thinking mindset, any slings and arrows of everyday life notwithstanding,

Hugs,

Roger

[Note: this post appears on both poetry blogs today. Oh, and to those readers who have dipped into my fiction blog and asked for more, I can only apologise for having no further fiction projects in mind. Glad you found something to enjoy there.] RNT

Out of Africa OR P-r-e-j-u-d-i-c-e-s, Weapons of Mass Destruction

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

Feedback suggests that a number of new readers have been visiting both poetry blogs since the coronavirus, COVID -19, began to spread around the world, forcing many of us to stay at home and find new ways of distracting ourselves from the harsh realities evolving all around us. One reader writes: "Homosexuality is a sin, and trying to pretend otherwise simply because the cap happens to fit you, is nothing short of pathetic ..." Another reader writes, “The coronavirus is also a pandemic, right? Only there is nothing new about it.” Yours truly can but echo the latter comment, arguing - as regular readers are well aware - that our differences do not make us different, only human. RNT

Now, there will always be those opposed to change, especially where certain aspects of socio-cultural-religious dogma are concerned. Thankfully, though, common humanity (and science) invariably gets the better of them or civilisation as we know it (or think we do) would never have developed, albeit it still has a way to go ...

Today’s poem is not new to either blog, but one I have been asked to repeat (after some revision) by several gay-friendly as well as gay readers from various African (and other) countries; to those readers who email me from time to time, asking why I feel any need to support gay people in what someone recently referred to as 'this Golden Age of Equality', it perhaps offers an answer. Sadly, even well-meaning legislation (and religion) can only go so far in tempering that too-common element of human nature called bigotry. (I am gay, yes, but ask any woman or victim of racial abuse about this Golden age of Equality...!)

As I have said many times on my poetry blogs - in both poems and preambles - a minority of readers who get in touch from time to time in support of the vilification of LGBT people will just have to get used to the fact that we are all part of a common humanity

Evangelical pastors preaching homophobia and worse across the world - not least, much of Africa - have to be among the worst diehards. They have much to answer for, and bear no small responsibility for anti-gay legislation in many countries; such is their influence that a newspaper editor in Uganda once called for the deaths of known gay people.

 David Kato (photo from the Internet)

  

Eric Lembembe (photo from the Internet)

David Kato (Uganda) and Eric Lembembe (Cameroon) - both gay activists - were murdered in January 2011 and July 2013 respectively; the number of gay-related killings across Africa is likely to be much higher.

But there is hope for us all yet. Evangelical leader and author Jen Hatmaker publicly changed her views on gay marriage in 2016. Both a Facebook entry calling for LGBT acceptance and comments about supporting same-sex marriage in an interview led Life Way Christian Stores to quit selling her books.

 “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”- Martin Luther King

“Hypocrisy and distortion are passing currents under the name of religion.” – Mahatma Gandhi]

"The death of dogma is the birth of morality." - Immanuel Kant

"From the beginning men used God to justify the unjustifiable." - Salman Rushdie, The Satanic Verses

“I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain.” - James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time

“Animals don't hate, and we're supposed to be better than them.” - Elvis Presley

OUT OF AFRICA or P-R-E-J-U-D-I-C-E, WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION 

'Kill the homosexuals!’

a local pastor cried;

and true to his words,

many gay men and women

have since died

"Homosexuals are sinners!’

the impassioned pastor yelled

at a congregation

that took up the cry, would

see us killed

"Homosexuality is an evil!"

the demon pastor screamed,

‘and no known cure

so kill it, and let its sinning

be redeemed

‘Man shall with woman lie!’

The pastor furiously exhorted

his flock to heed verses

from Leviticus, Christ’s coming

conveniently aborted

Someone in the congregation

dared point out that Christ said

we should love

and help our neighbours, not

wish them dead

‘Blasphemer!” the pastor cried,

near hysterical, refusing to relent

on a demonising

of homosexuality undermining

the New Testament

Africa, why are you (or is anyone)

even listening…?

Copyright R. N. Taber 2012; 2020

[Note: This poem first appears under the title ‘Out of Africa’ in the 7^th and (so far) last of my mixed general/ gay-interest collections, Tracking the Torchbearer by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2012; it was inspired by a Channel 4 ‘Despatches’ program, Africa, the Last Taboo, 2010, and is also repeated on my gay-interest poetry blog today.]