Game Changer

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

Crowds of protesters and trolls on social media continue to rubbish the current pandemic as fake news of a hoax. What is it with these people? Agreeing to differ is one thing, denial in the face of indisputable evidence is something else … along the lines of which, as this is a public blog, I will refrain from speaking my mind any further.

People are dying; these are someone’s family members, best friends, kind neighbours … a cruel reality behind faceless statistics.

If people want to protest about society letting them down one way or another, yes, by all means go ahead, but a pandemic is bigger than any society, bigger than any of us; it is a worldwide threat with the potential to destroy all creatures great and small, humankind included, unless a vaccine is found.

That a vaccine will be found, I have no doubt although how long it may provide immunity remains open to speculation, especially given the changing nature of some viruses, and this one is new to even our most eminent scientists (not to mention doctors, sociologists, and other professionals expected to pick up the pieces.)

A reader writes that I should not criticise conspiracy theorists “…as you have done in the past if only because they are a positive force as opposed to the pathetic complacency that so often characterises human behaviour.” He or she may well have a point, but dare I suggest that any life force can effect change for the (much) worse as well as for the better?

GAME CHANGER

Out of the blue
it strikes without warning,
heedless of the cries~
of men, women, children
living their lives
by reasonably flexible rules,
no time for fools
blind to woods for their trees,
will do as they please 

Suddenly, all-change;
screaming brakes applied
around the world
any ambition, aspiration.
put on hold,
humanity left exposed, scared,
its powers-that-be
at pains to appear less uncertain,
frantic for a solution

Plainly, no quick fixes,
the road ahead, likely to be
as tough or tougher
than any recorded in history
while history, too, proves
that where there’s a will, a way
can be found, humanity's,
flair for invention rewarding us
with kinder tomorrows

A plague unlike any we've ever seen,
Covid-19 

Copyright R. N. Taber, 2020

 

 

 

 

 

Engaging with Life Forces OR A Universal Passion

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

Today’s poem first appeared on the blog in 2018.

Love, dialogue, politics, religion, culture, peace of mind, inspiration, positive thinking,  taking people as we find them and rejecting prejudice and stereotypes …these are but some of the many life forces some of us are inclined to forget, even dismiss, and fail to call upon to sustain us during the worst of hard times for which we are often too busy employing the Forces of Blame.

First among equals, of course, is love - in all its shapes and forms; a close second, though, is dialogue, something in which too few people, communities and, yes, family members, too, are inclined to engage, preferring to rush to judgements fired by such speculation as incited by personal ego.

Now, if we really want to achieve something in which we passionately believe, we need to be prepared to stick at it every step of the way though the going be rough or smooth. Maybe if the British Government believed more passionately in Brexit, they may well have achieved it sooner instead of alienating all sides and homing in on a compromise; as it is, our relations

with the E U are looking shaky if not irreparably damaged.

Certainly, if the LGBT campaign for equality that began with Stonewall had weakened, even given up under pressure from the eternal Naysayers in society, we would not have come as far as we have, here in the West at least; less so in other parts of the world so while where there is cause for celebration, there remains no room for complacency, and never is. Every cause worth fighting for will always have its nemeses with which to contend and find ways of either defeating or winning over.

Certainly, in an LGBT context, it is good to see how the latter continues to prevail where once it would have been unthinkable. Hopefully, we can sustain the momentum and fling open doors previously slammed shut in our faces. Hopefully, too, a time will come when those societies and communities (including religious groups) bent on persecuting us may yet concede that our differences do not make us different, only human, and embrace an all-inclusive agenda of love and peace.

We are a common humanity, deserving better than certain separatist forces driving us apart; politics, dogma and prejudice to name but a few. At least the Covid-19 coronavirus has encouraged some people to put these aside and pull together, see the light in so far as there is really nothing wrong in agreeing to differ, it is but another life force in which we may freely engage without being divisive or judgemental

This poem is a kenning (or a Who-Am-I? poem as a kenning is sometimes called.)

ENGAGING WITH LIFE FORCES or A UNIVERSAL PASSION 

A worthy ally, and necessary

to keep faith

with the mind-body-spirit 

where its causes just,

and likely outcome much the better

for everyone

engaged in the greater purpose

of making a positive contribution

to raison d’être

Whomsoever engages with me

needs must

feel committed to all ends

in view, no matter

any distractions conspiring to deflect

(even defeat)

such perseverance as treading

a tightrope of conflicting alliances,

no safety-net

Too often, fickle contemporaneity

makes such demands

of those who take me to heart,

expecting compromise,

would all but see me in free fall;

yet, keep the faith,

and count every battle won,

a triumph over the world’s Naysayers

in self-denial

Not for the fainthearted, I, Motivation,

feed momentum to inspiration

Copyright R. N. Taber 2018; 2020

[Note: an earlier version of this poem appeared on the blog in 2018]

Mind-Body-Spirit, no Open-and-Shut Case

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

Regular readers will know that I am a great believer in both free speech and agreeing to differ. The info on the link below appals me.

https://www.secularism.org.uk/news/2019/05/islamophobia-definition-unfit-for-purpose-say-campaigners

I would no more support Islam than any other world religion, but neither would I ever reject anyone for their religion alone, however much I might dispute its dogma. Furthermore, I have met many Muslims, especially among younger people, who also would not  presume to pre-judge a person by their religion or non-religion, as the case may be. 

Who we are - the person we are - is the sum of all our parts; taken individually, these same parts cannot be taken to represent us.

Now, I don't subscribe to any major religion because I have issues with many aspects of their various dogma. To suggest this makes me a bigot or racist is, to my mind, absurd. Similarly, I have issues with many if not all political parties. Do I deserve to be shouted down for saying so? I think not, even if human nature, self-obsessed as it is often found to be, might well argue otherwise.

Religion is not a side entrance to politics, which is exactly how it is being made to appear time and again on the world stage; Islam is no exception, nor should it be seen to be.

I have worked alongside men and women people from all walks of life and of various socio-religious-political persuasions and met others at poetry readings I have given around the country. 

I deplore bigotry in any shape or form; there are those, though, who have expressed reservations (to say the least) about LGBT people, usually couched in such a way that they cannot be accused of being overtly politically incorrect. People will often confide that, while they mean no offence, they are simply 'not comfortable' around us, although I have to wonder why, in that case, many of those same people have been ok with working alongside a gay poet and even attending his poetry readings ... ?

We are a common if diverse humanity, whose individual differences do not make us any more or less a part of it, whoever or wherever we are; our contributions to it may well vary in shape and form, but human history will be the best judge of that while (hopefully) passing on any lessons learned. 

Those among us inclined to put Mind-Body-Spirit in the dock from time to time, not least our own as much as anyone else's - will be only too familiar with open verdicts.

This poem is a kenning.

MIND-BODY-SPIRIT, NO OPEN-AND-SHUT CASE 

I am more than any religion,

politics, social standing in a world

preoccupied with the parts

comprising who we are rather than

the sum of these,

attacked for being unfit for purpose

by any who disagree,

appointed judge and jury by default

to human nature

I am more than stereotypes

love to make out, convey my all

to a world preferring

assumptions to finding out for itself

what makes us tick;

never a simple equation in archives

of human history,

ever tailored to measure according

to cloth and clout

I am more than you observe

on any street, in any public forum

where that other self

I choose to show to family, friends,

may well stay hid;

but give me the benefit of any doubt,

go the last mile, and let’s see

if a common humanity can’t reconcile

on common ground?

I am Personal Space, that life-secret

last heard of passing an open verdict

Copyright R. N. Taber 20120

[Note: This post-poem also appears on my gay-interest poetry blog today.]

Engaging with a Speculative Mind

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

Society - that is to say, the more vocal and 'pushy' of its so-called  'betters' - may well like to think the human condition can be moulded as it sees fit, but it underestimates the human spirit, that inner self inclined to resist all attempts to fit us into boxes for which we were not made.

By all means, let us resist ...

ENGAGING WITH A SPECULATIVE MIND

Some turn to love but for escape, comfort,

weary of a world full of pain and hate,

sick of always being told what to do (or not),

seek peace, understanding in a kind heart

Some find an escape and comfort they seek,

believe they're safe under sheltering skies;

some, disenchanted by love for its own sake,

weary of the same people, places, half lies…

If squaring up to life’s clout is never easy,

squaring up to love is harder still by far;

as for looking both in the eye with sincerity,

that demands the sureness of a guiding star

As clay to the potter's wheel, human nature

can but do its best with what's on offer ...

Copyright R. N. Taber 2005; 2016

[Note: First published under the title ‘Horoscope' in A Feeling For The Quickness Of Time by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2005; revised ed. in e-format in preparation.]

Conversation Piece(s)

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

The original version of today’s poem was written in 1976 and has appeared in several poetry magazines and anthologies. I have since made some revisions, but retained lower case throughout. Why? Because I still feel it makes the point that conversations are like jigsaws; as we try to piece it all together,  we may well find ourselves making poor (not necessarily bad) guesses,  as if our bigger picture in our mind's eye doesn't quite correspond to that on the box cover. 

Now, this may not be one of my best poems, but it remains a firm favourite of mine, not least because it turns on a theme to which I will return time and again in my later poems; a breakdown of communication between two people on a meaningful, personal level in modern society, not least for each of them looking at the same picture in the same conversation's frame, but from different perspectives. The result can be thoughts and conversations left hanging, not unlike gaps in a jigsaw looking to be filled. In terms of conversation, this can only be resolved once those concerned accept the need to keep the same picture in view while allowing for its being approached from different angles.

Here we are in an age of increasingly sophisticated technology, yet fewer and fewer people ever sit down and talk to each other, and I don’t mean making small talk or talking at people (because we so love the sound of our own voices?) or IM'ing on social networks, Internet chat rooms and mobile phones....  I mean face to face sitting down and talking things through, and listening to each other.

Oh, but I have met so many people - members of my own family included - who will only talk about something if they know they are gong to like what they hear; so much as any hint of opposition to their point of view, and they don’t want to know. As for confronting home truths, that is rarely if ever on the agenda; nor can they be persuaded by any suggestion of a mutual exchange.

So is it any wonder that so many relationships fall apart, family members become estranged, best friends become sworn enemies and work colleagues cannot stand to be in the same room as each other....? 

It takes two to talk and two to listen or the chances are there will be more wrong assumptions, misunderstandings, misinterpreted actions or words distorting our personal space than man-made waste polluting the atmosphere.

When did YOU last have a worthwhile two-way conversation or frank exchange of views with someone close rather than let them eat away at your patience till it snaps...or worse? A jigsaw requires patience to piece together the picture on its box. While some of us may well feel we live in boxes, those cover pictures may well be very similar, but rarely the same unless we happen to be on much the  same wavelength. Could that be why the Spirit of Love excels at human jigsaws...?

CONVERSATION PIECE(S)

not a bad day,

so I’ve heard say 

over the jam

could have been worse;

by the way, I saw a hearse this morning

outside number five

good to be alive,

even in a cactus twilight creeping

under the skin

there’s a scratching 

at the door, better let the cat in I suppose,

but before I do...

tell me, who else 

knows about us or even suspects 

anything...?

here we sit, you and I,

like figures at that hearse, scratching away

with each eye...

for something to say 

after clocking up much the usual

hours apart...

what’s that?

okay, I’ll go let in

the cat

Copyright R. N. Taber 1976; 2012 

[Note: An earlier version of this poem has appeared on the blog under the title  Conversation Piece, also in Love and Human Remains by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2000] RNT