But it IS Normal! ~ Part II
LGBTQ
Liverpool
But it IS Normal! ~ Part II
The Author Note at the end explains
But it IS Normal!
It's good to sit here
Rest awhile
Get’s so intense...
Up road
along the coast,
int’ city I'm accepted
for who and what I am
Down road
along the coast,
equidistant,
int’ village I'm rejected
for who and what I am...
It's daft
But nowt twain shall meet!
Trouble is...
half folk live int’ city
T’other half int’ village
Now... cousin tells me...
I've caused a row...
that I should've kept me mouth shut
that I should've "tried to be normal"
That kicked off the city lot
"he IS normal"
and then a fight...
So here I am
not quite sure where to head
what to do
So I reckon I'll just stay here awhile
Funny innit!
Used to play over there!
City kids and Village boys
We never even thought about
who and what I am
but seems like folks have had their own
ideas of who and what I am
and who I'm gonna be
and what I'm gonna be
and who I'm gonna marry
News to me!
They aint said a single word to me!
Oh well
It'll sort, I guess
But I aint capitulating
I'm gonna do my OWN thing
Yeah
My OWN thing
Daft init!
Century from now
w’ent pushing up daisies
folks will look back
to those damn dark evil days
when idiots was 'urting others
just coz who and what they were!
Daft twats! [i]
[i] English slang term meaning, in the context of this poem, an annoying person, or people
[ii] Author Note below
[iii] the verse below is loosely translated from the German, R’s first language
Author Note 2014
When this was posted via social media in 2014 it prompted a very important interaction took place with RJH, at that time in Vienna. R is 'bang on target' and it made me realise the need to convey my own mind-frame when composing the lines - very positive and upbeat. There is no depression in the image; rather, a young man reasoning things out, taking time out to do just that, realising that he faces a lifetime, as we all do, where we are always in the midst of extremes or polarised thoughts.
And though it isn't stated directly, he knows too that it's his task to pull the extremes together, to reduce the gap between the polarised extremes. And there's something in the way he sits and ponders, that communicates very powerfully, he will succeed!
R, in sending the banner image, attached the following:
It is not easy to live in a village.
Knowing what opinion others have of you.
I was born in the countryside.
I could not stand it.
Escape to the city.
Finally minded to know.
Relief, I'm not the only one.
Love and let love.
After thirty years I’m back in the village.
And I love it.
Walks in the woods with my dog.
Chicken feed, vegetable before the snails protect,
be happy when it rains ........ [ii]
In 2014 I replied:
Absolutely! The return to countryside and lanes, the great and high trees, the fields, the stone walls for shelter. Yes, these never leave us. Our return brings with us a spirit of enlightenment and acceptance, and we become the living hope for the young ones suddenly finding themselves going down the same path of prejudice.
It is why I've written this poem in the fashion it is. There is hope, and the young man sitting, resting, thinking things through, is not perturbed by prejudice.
He's summed 'em all up in those two final words in that last line. In my mind’s eye, he springs up triumphant, unbowed, puts his top back on, and sprints into work - a happy chap - full of life, compassionate, loving.
June 1, 2022
All Rights Reserved
© Kenneth Thomas Webb 2022
Written July 1, 2014
Banner Photo by Brian Lawson on Unsplash
Ken Webb is a writer and proofreader. His website, kennwebb.com, showcases his work as a writer, blogger and podcaster, resting on his successive careers as a police officer, progressing to a junior lawyer in succession and trusts as a Fellow of the Institute of Legal Executives, a retired officer with the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, and latterly, for three years, the owner and editor of two lifestyle magazines in Liverpool.
He also just handed over a successful two year chairmanship in Gloucestershire with Cheltenham Regency Probus.
Pandemic aside, he spends his time equally between his city, Liverpool, and the county of his birth, Gloucestershire.
In this fast-paced present age, proof-reading is essential. And this skill also occasionally leads to copy-editing writers’ manuscripts for submission to publishers and also student and post graduate dissertations.
