Roger Taber
At a poetry reading at Bournemouth Library, shortly after the launch of the project, DAMSET’s Chairman met poet Roger Taber and talked to him about the memorial.
He immediately offered to write a poem dedicated to DAMSET.
Thank you, Roger.
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A BEACH
Sun and moon, sailing fickle skies
to safe harbours;
Sea, like a cabbage-stained tablecloth
edged with white lace;
Heads peering up, peering down
as they have always done,
listening to waves, voices of the heart
that stay with us, move on with us,
play a part in our lives, no matter all
temporal hosts come and gone,
sun and moon out of reach, cabbage
stains on the world’s tablecloths..
tales told by shells on Bournemouth
beach of those whose faces may
blur with time but we remember them,
who died of AIDS and not to blame
(the fruits of love bitter-sweet, yet better
by far to live by it than hate)
nor sexuality, physicality, morality,
any match for our own mortality
but as small boats on a passionate sea
driven by a feeling for integrity;
Come a time when death may put love
out of reach, then take a walk
on the sand, talk with the waves, listen
to shells on Bournemouth beach
(or any other that stirs a grieving soul
to recover the heart’s grail);
join a passing ship awhile, carrying
family, friends, lovers, even
old neighbours…by day and night,
be they gay or straight…cruise
Loving Memory’s fair shores, share
old jokes, laugh about crises
over cabbage stains on best tablecloths
To inner eye (and ear) time never deleted
nor love, through AIDS, never defeated
© R. N. Taber 2006
