http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber
A number of readers have asked me to repeat the link to my (very) informal poetry reading on the 4th plinth in London’s Trafalgar Square back in July 2009; it was my contribution to Antony Gormley’s One & Other ‘living sculpture’ project that ran 24/7 for 100 days during which time 2,400 ordinary people were invited to do their ‘own thing’ for an hour. I included some poems on a gay theme among others. [The entire web-stream is now archived in the British Library.]
http://www.webarchive.org.uk/wayback/archive/20100223121732/oneandother.co.uk/participants/Roger_T
A number of readers have asked me to repeat the link to my (very) informal poetry reading on the 4th plinth in London’s Trafalgar Square back in July 2009; it was my contribution to Antony Gormley’s One & Other ‘living sculpture’ project that ran 24/7 for 100 days during which time 2,400 ordinary people were invited to do their ‘own thing’ for an hour. I included some poems on a gay theme among others. [The entire web-stream is now archived in the British Library.]
http://www.webarchive.org.uk/wayback/archive/20100223121732/oneandother.co.uk/participants/Roger_T
Meanwhile…
Today’s
poem last appeared on the blog in 2009 it was first published in two poetry magazines
- Psychopoetics (No. 42, 1998) and Reach (No. 27, 1999) - before I included
it in my first major collection.
As more
of my poems were accepted for publication during the 1990s, my confidence as a
poet grew and I had the idea of publishing a collection. Regular readers will
know that poetry publishers showed no interest (especially as I intended to
include poems on a gay theme) so I went ahead and created my own imprint. Until
recently, sales have paid for new publications and new if relatively small print
runs of previous collections. Sales for Tracking
the Torchbearer (2012) have been disappointing, though, if not too discouraging given
the global economic downturn. (Any 2nd editions will be in e-format
and include revisions of some poems.) I have yet to decide whether a final
collection - Diary of a Time Traveller
- that I am working on for publication in 2015 will be in print or e-format
although I am feeling more and more inclined towards a very limited print run
alongside an e-book.
Incidentally, readers are often curious as to why the covers for my first four volumes are not in
colour. Partly, the reason is because it was much more expensive at the time and I had no way of knowing whether I would recover costs. However, the main reason is that they contain many early poems and I
used to think of myself more in terms of black and white than colour in those
days.
Meanwhile…
Have you
ever looked at your face in a train window and seen a complete stranger? Sounds
weird…or familiar?
STRANGERS
ON A TRAIN
Met
someone on a train (was it yesterday?)
heading
away from things held dear
but meant
little any more once fate knocked
on my
door smelling of adventure
(a heady
perfume) and like a fool I let you in;
must have
been a devil on my shoulder
getting
bolder as I get older, feeling a need
to show
the world I’m not afraid
or, to
tell the truth (as told on the train)
lonely
for my youth again, again...
so we
danced all night and the devil sang
(To hell
with what’s right and wrong!)
One life,
let’s have fun, where’s the harm?
None,
thought I. Yet, one by one,
the
flowers in my garden began to die
till a
day came when you looked,
turned
away, shrugged a short ‘goodbye.’
Couldn’t
face friends then so caught
the first
train. A stranger looked me in the eye,
told me
not to cry, how I’d learn to live
with pain
and love again, I only had to try;
I was
many years in the learning, alone
and left
for dead… then I met you, saw how
that face
in the train window hadn’t lied,
me, too
scared to believe a word (and how!)
Till now
Copyright
R. N. Taber 1998
[From: Love
and Human Remains by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2001]
[Please Note: My collections are
only on sale in the UK but anyone can order (signed) copies from me at a
generous blogger discount. For details, contact rogertab@aol.com with ‘Blog
reader’ or Poetry collection’ in the subject field.]
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