An Inspired Storytelling

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

This poem/post is from my gay-interest blog archives for February 2016

Regular readers will know how I love wandering along the seashore at any time of year, especially where I can travel through time and space to relive and enjoy happy memories.

When I was a boy, and as a teenager, I would listen to sea shells and hear things no one else ever told me, reassurance I would not find at home or school as I struggled to come to terms with life, love and an awakening homosexuality. 

It was a habit that would never leave me and one I enjoy to this day.  Now, of course, I am growing old, although I suspect the need for reassurance is rarely far away for any of us.

AN INSPIRED STORYTELLING

A collector’s prize seashell,

pretty on the outside, empty within

but for nature’s restless swell,

warning the world of its potential

for ruin…

I came, listening intently

to the shell’s graphic storytelling,

a fast-growing empathy...

with twilight’s tides swirling

on the eye, magical tales

about everyday lives on the sea

as brave as Odysseus of old nor less

every one, a hero than he

Stirred by the sheer presence

of gay folks negotiating life’s tides

come storms or whatever forces

may see us to harbour or our graves,

I replaced the shell, oh, so gently

for others to find, hear all it has to say

on living life to the full, proudly, echoes 
ringing in my ears to this day

Heart lost, now navigating

its tides’ rise and fall, no empty shell

but fuller, bolder, for hearing tell

how nature defines and redefines us, 

one and all…

Copyright R. N. Taber 2010; 2019

[Note: This poem a revised version of a poem that appears as ‘Researching Seashells’ in  On the Battlefields of Love by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2010.]

A Seaside Calendar

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

I spent another lovely day in Brighton, Sussex (UK) recently. I love it there and always enjoy time spent at the seaside. 

I have read poems ‘on location’ in Brighton for You Tube that some of you might enjoy although don’t expect the quality of the videos to be up to BBC standards; just follow the link and click on ‘videos’ to browse and view any that might interest you. (I read different poems on each Brighton video):

http://www.youtube.com/rogerNtaber

Meanwhile, as a song goes with which UK readers especially will be familiar, Oh, I do like to be beside the seaside...

{Photo: Pendower, Conwall, taken from the Internet.]

A SEASIDE CALENDAR 

Laughter, on summer-scented air

bursts on jaunty wing;

glad eyes shine the dipping gull,

excite twin waves,

returns excelling. Sun on sand.

Oh world, on hand 

to greet me, make or break, 

whatever

Joy but hushed, the autumn year

devours the sky;

sad eyes shape the dipping gull,

endure each wave,

returns excelling. Sun on sand.

Oh world, on hand 

to greet me, make or break,

whatever...

Hopes reviewed, wintry ways

break their silence;

watery eyes applaud a lone bird,

brave each wave,

returns excelling. Sun on sand.

Oh world, on hand

to greet me, make or break,

whatever...

Comings and goings of n-o-i-s-e

in playful flight;

wide eyes consume a mating pair,

glide twin waves, 

returns excelling. Sun on sand.

Oh. world, on hand 

to greet me, make or break.

whatever...

Copyright R. N. Taber 2000; 2018

[Note: an earlier version of this poem appears in Love and Human Remains by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2000.]

Shell Seekers

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

I have changed the appearance of this poem from the original version that appears in my collection which I first posted here on the blog in 2007. It is no reflection on the original poem (that has also appeared in other poetry publications) but I felt it was crying out for a makeover of sorts. Some readers, I know, prefer the original version which was always well received when I read it at several poetry readings around the UK. Listeners, of course, unlike readers, are oblivious to how a poem is laid out so hopefully people will like the later version as much as if not more than its predecessor. You are welcome to judge (and let me know) which version you prefer.

Any changes to original poems will appear in revised eds. that I plan to bring out in a few years, but in e-format.

You can see/hear me reading the (revised) poem in an early video on my You Tube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gj2HSJCvvBo

If the link does not work, either go to mu You Tube channel and search under title:

http://www.youtube.com/rogerNtaberOR 

for those of you who tell me you often cannot access You Tube for one reason or another, I have also posted the video here. (See below.)

Meanwhile, especially for Tony, Adam, Kylie and Roxanne from ‘Somewhere in the middle of nowhere’:

Original version (1991):

SHELL SEEKERS

No harder thing I do than loving you
at a distance as of sea and sand
at the going out of each tide,
at each coming up of the sun,
all the colours of morning strung
like prayer beads across the sky,
a benediction! You and I
as footprints on the shore;
Together. Parting. Wiped out.
Another tide, another morning,
another day - someone's searching
who'll know that we were here;
Beyond time and space,
false perimeters of place,
our love well-preserved
nor finer served than
by a shell's poetry, as
restless as the sea,
deceptive as each dawn

Like prayer beads, to
each our own

Revised version (2018):

SHELL SEEKERS

No harder thing I do
than loving you at a distance
as of sea and sand
at the going out of each tide,
each coming up of the sun;
all the colours of morning strung
like prayer beads
across the sky, a benediction!
You and I, footprints
on the shore; together, parting,
wiped out

Another tide,
another morning, another day
and others searching
who will know for sure
we were here

Beyond time and space,
and false perimeters of place,
our love no better served
than preserved in a shell's poetry,
as restless as the open sea,
all the more splendid for that
than any sunset or dawn,
for the dreaming or waking up
with a growing affinity
for all the seasons of life, love
and nature

Like prayer beads,
to each our own interpretation
and/or inspiration;
so, too, the ages-old poetry
of seashells

Copyright R. N. Taber 1999; 2018

[Note: The earlier version of this poem appears in  Love And Human Remains by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2000.]