A Poet's Blog: Roger N.Taber shares his thoughts & poems...

Thoughts and observations by English poet Roger N. Taber, a retired librarian and poet-novelist.- "Ethnicity, Religion, Gender, Sexuality ... these are but parts of a whole. It is the whole that counts." RNT [NB While I have no wish to create a social network, I will always reply to critical emails about my poetry. Contact: rogertab@aol.com].

Name:
Location: London, United Kingdom

Sadly, a bad fall in 2012 has left me with a mobility problem, and being diagnosed with prostate cancer the same year hasn't helped, but I get out and about with my trusty walking stick as much as I can, take each day as it comes and try to keep looking on the bright(er) side of life. Many of my poems reflect the need to nurture a positive-thinking mindset whatever life throws at us.

Monday 15 September 2014

Manipulator


There is nothing wrong with ambition, but sometimes motivation is less clear sighted than we like to think., and we lose sight of our priorities if only temporarily; worse, we risk losing sight of who we are in our anxiety to prove we are more than a match for someone else…

Comparing ourselves with others is rarely a good idea as we will almost certainly go through life feeding an inferiority complex. Everyone is different, with different strengths and weaknesses. We need to lose any self-consciousness and develop the self-confidence to focus on ourselves and those people and issues that matter most to us. Otherwise, in attempting to prove we are as good as or better than someone else, we risk losing everything that really matters.

MANIPULATOR

You hardly notice
I am here, and should you care
to look over your shoulder
the chances are you’ll not see me;
if the light is right I’ll fade
from sight, or (better still) no light
at all where I have taken
what I can of your mind and soul,
made them my own

You don’t fear me,
though you should, for am surely
your worst enemy;
you carry on with this and that,
making your way
in life, believing it’s your own
while all the time it’s mine;
my ambitions you aspire to fulfil,
rarely your own

Oh, but I am clever,
and would never lead you so astray
that you become lost
in a maze of conflicting emotions
and cannot find your way back
to where I intend you should be,
feeding you (now and then)
a hollow victory, its celebration
mine, all mine

You, my puppet, I, your puppeteer;
One upmanship, the Manipulator


 Copyright R. N. Taber 2011; 2014


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Friday 17 May 2013

Notes on the Art of Self-Deception

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

We have all met them, people who are too stubborn to admit they even might be wrong or mistaken; who won’t compromise because they see even meeting someone halfway as a sign of weakness.

Mind you, even stubbornness has its place in the human psyche; it can be a virtuy or a vice.. For example, it is helping me through my treatment for prostate cancer; a stubborn streak in me refuses to consider (most of the time) what could yet happen.

Oh, but life is too short to dwell for long on its what-ifs and maybes. Carpe Diem, I say!

This poem is a kenning, sometimes referred to as a 'Who am I?' poem.

NOTES ON THE ART OF SELF-DECEPTION

Few acknowledge
my presence from beginning to end
of their time,
insinuating my way with expertise
worthy of a spy
intent on political obstruction,
slithering in and out
among corridors of a nation’s
central powerhouse

To anyone aware
of my existence, it suits them best
to deny I have any influence
over their affairs, but will insist
they will proceed
with the fairness and diplomacy
(not political expediency)
choosing to ignore my capacity
for sabotage

Though the heart
stay true to all intents and purposes,
I will wreak havoc
among dark corridors of the mind,
slithering in and out
where conscience would tread,
ensuring a degree
of impotence for its slipping up
on a trail of lies

 I pass for a pale imitation of integrity
 in the footlights of human vanity

Copyright R. N. Taber 2013

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