An Affair To Remember
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber
[Update, Sept 19, 2019: Today, the British Library confirmed that the link below to my 4th plinth reading in 2009 is no longer available as the video is incompatible with an updated IT system. However, I am assured that the video still exists, and B L hope to make it available to the public again one day. Fingers crossed, and watch this space.] RNT
The hormone therapy is doing an excellent job of controlling my prostate cancer, but tiring me out this week, not least because I have to keep getting up during the night to visit the toilet!
Incidentally, many thanks to the reader in Germany who contacted me in response to my fiction blog:
http://rogertaberfiction.blogspot.com/
Meanwhile...
Yesterday was the 2nd anniversary of my poetry reading on the 4th plinth in London’s Trafalgar Square, July 14th 2009 between 8.00 pm -9.00 pm GMT. I have to confess I forgot the date (never the experience) until a friend reminded me.
It seems like only yesterday that I felt privileged to be able to make a contribution to Antony Gormley’s One & Other ‘living sculpture’ project; 2,400 ordinary people from various backgrounds and parts of the UK were given global coverage for one hour 24/7 for 100 days. The entire web stream is now archived at the British Library, and you may care to access my contribution at:
http://www.webarchive.org.uk/wayback/archive/20100223121732/oneandother.co.uk/participants/Roger_T [NB: Sept 19, 2019 - The British Library confirmed today that he video is no longer available as it was incompatible with a new IT system, However, it still exists and BL hope to reinstate it and make it available to the public again at some future date.] RNT
I was very nervous about including LGBT-interest poems, especially as there had been a wave of serious attacks in the London area in recent times (a disquieting trait that continues to haunt gay men) but was delighted to receive emails, phone calls and letters of support from gay and straight people alike from the UK and overseas. More importantly, it was good to know that some people appreciate me as a poet with many interests and needing to tackle many themes, among which gay issues are, yes, important to me as a gay man, but no more or less so as a poet than love, nature, spirituality, peace; in what’s going on across the world just as much as what’s happening around me. Poetry is not just about pretty verses or playing clever mind games with language.
Moreover, what has sexuality to do with any aspect of the arts?
I see myself as a poet who happens to be gay rather than a gay poet; there is a subtle difference. At the same time, of course I am not going to ignore gay identity, certainly not because a selection of bigots or learned critics say I should because I am not important enough and some readers might be offended! [Oh, yes, they do.] Besides, if I am not important enough, why should anyone give a damn anyway?
Whatever, my hour on the 4th plinth on a global web-stream did wonders for my self-confidence and self-esteem at a time when I was seriously considering abandoning writing altogether. It also gave me the kind of inner strength that is helping me through treatment for prostate cancer and taking a lot of the fear and worry away (not all, by any means!) about whether or not I have made the right decision to have hormone therapy after changing my mind about radiotherapy.
So, yes, I am greatly indebted to those who gave me the opportunity to perform on the 4th plinth two years ago.
AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER
A scenic path into history
(flowers on a plinth in sun and rain)
ordinary or extraordinary
Art reflecting community,
the like (quite) of which never again;
a scenic path into history
A way of seeing all humanity
(inner ear and eye driven to home in)
ordinary or extraordinary
Statues, stepped out of a gallery
celebrating a diversity of population;
a scenic path into history
Treading on dreams but gently,
persevering with the ultimate question,
ordinary or extraordinary?
A feel for comedy and tragedy
(art’s bitter-sweet affair with Creation);
a scenic path into history,
ordinary or extraordinary
Copyright R. N. Taber 2009
[Note: From: On the Battlefields of Love by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2010]
[Update, Sept 19, 2019: Today, the British Library confirmed that the link below to my 4th plinth reading in 2009 is no longer available as the video is incompatible with an updated IT system. However, I am assured that the video still exists, and B L hope to make it available to the public again one day. Fingers crossed, and watch this space.] RNT
The hormone therapy is doing an excellent job of controlling my prostate cancer, but tiring me out this week, not least because I have to keep getting up during the night to visit the toilet!
Incidentally, many thanks to the reader in Germany who contacted me in response to my fiction blog:
http://rogertaberfiction.blogspot.com/
Meanwhile...
Yesterday was the 2nd anniversary of my poetry reading on the 4th plinth in London’s Trafalgar Square, July 14th 2009 between 8.00 pm -9.00 pm GMT. I have to confess I forgot the date (never the experience) until a friend reminded me.
It seems like only yesterday that I felt privileged to be able to make a contribution to Antony Gormley’s One & Other ‘living sculpture’ project; 2,400 ordinary people from various backgrounds and parts of the UK were given global coverage for one hour 24/7 for 100 days. The entire web stream is now archived at the British Library, and you may care to access my contribution at:
http://www.webarchive.org.uk/wayback/archive/20100223121732/oneandother.co.uk/participants/Roger_T [NB: Sept 19, 2019 - The British Library confirmed today that he video is no longer available as it was incompatible with a new IT system, However, it still exists and BL hope to reinstate it and make it available to the public again at some future date.] RNT
I was very nervous about including LGBT-interest poems, especially as there had been a wave of serious attacks in the London area in recent times (a disquieting trait that continues to haunt gay men) but was delighted to receive emails, phone calls and letters of support from gay and straight people alike from the UK and overseas. More importantly, it was good to know that some people appreciate me as a poet with many interests and needing to tackle many themes, among which gay issues are, yes, important to me as a gay man, but no more or less so as a poet than love, nature, spirituality, peace; in what’s going on across the world just as much as what’s happening around me. Poetry is not just about pretty verses or playing clever mind games with language.
Moreover, what has sexuality to do with any aspect of the arts?
I see myself as a poet who happens to be gay rather than a gay poet; there is a subtle difference. At the same time, of course I am not going to ignore gay identity, certainly not because a selection of bigots or learned critics say I should because I am not important enough and some readers might be offended! [Oh, yes, they do.] Besides, if I am not important enough, why should anyone give a damn anyway?
Whatever, my hour on the 4th plinth on a global web-stream did wonders for my self-confidence and self-esteem at a time when I was seriously considering abandoning writing altogether. It also gave me the kind of inner strength that is helping me through treatment for prostate cancer and taking a lot of the fear and worry away (not all, by any means!) about whether or not I have made the right decision to have hormone therapy after changing my mind about radiotherapy.
So, yes, I am greatly indebted to those who gave me the opportunity to perform on the 4th plinth two years ago.
AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER
A scenic path into history
(flowers on a plinth in sun and rain)
ordinary or extraordinary
Art reflecting community,
the like (quite) of which never again;
a scenic path into history
A way of seeing all humanity
(inner ear and eye driven to home in)
ordinary or extraordinary
Statues, stepped out of a gallery
celebrating a diversity of population;
a scenic path into history
Treading on dreams but gently,
persevering with the ultimate question,
ordinary or extraordinary?
A feel for comedy and tragedy
(art’s bitter-sweet affair with Creation);
a scenic path into history,
ordinary or extraordinary
Copyright R. N. Taber 2009
[Note: From: On the Battlefields of Love by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2010]
Labels: Antony Gormley (sculptor), arts, human nature, imagination, mind-body-spirit, nature, personal space, poetry, poetry reading, positive thinking, prejudices, sexual identity, society, Trafalgar Square
posted by R. N. Taber | 07:38
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