Steve Manchester ~ A Letter of Encouragement

Poetry

Some Letters remain timeless, testament to a period or event or upheaval of history.
This 2012 letter by email from Steve of Manchester is one such. It stands as true today in 2021 as it did in 2012.
It relates to three poems written in my author name in 2012.

Received by Email Through Contact Page on 30 May 2012

Dear Mr Marshall,

I have just read the three poems on your page and felt that I must say that I was moved by all three.

Anyhows! is amazingly poignant and so relevant. It deserves to be circulated to schools and read out in morning assemblies. (Do they still do that?)

Perhaps it should also be read out to the United Nations General Assembly, it may encourage them to get up off their backsides and actually do something to stop Assad and his murderous thugs.

They Came In The Night ... Well.. What can I say? My words are insufficient.

Until today, only one other poem has had me wiping away tears so that I could continue to read. That was Wilfred Owen's 'Dulce et Decorum Est'.

And finally, What's The Matter Lad?

Another poignant and moving poem which illustrates the harm that homophobia can do.

I'm from Manchester, and lived out my teenage years in the 70s. Although being gay was no longer illegal, we had God's Cop James Anderton as our Chief Constable, (I'm sure you'll have heard of him). So as you can imagine, for a young teen, struggling with his sexuality, growing up at that time was very difficult. When I was old enough to go to the bars in the village, Anderton was busily raiding them and closing them down to save us from "drowning in a cesspool of our own making". As a consequence, I felt it better to suppress my feelings and try not to bring shame on myself and my family. I married in '83, and had two great children. I'm still married, and my wife now knows about my sexuality, but I sometimes wonder what could have been had I had the courage to come out back then.

I hope all of that makes some kind of sense. I was never much good at putting words on paper.

I know it's a bit of a ramble, so I wouldn't blame you for just hitting the delete key.

Thanks for those great poems anyway.

Steve
Manchester

Afterword ~ Reckoning

In twenty years of writing, this letter, as I said at the beginning, remains timeless. People ask me, on the quiet, why I felt it necessary to write and publish Being Gay, Being Bi Whatever in 2013. As I’ve said elsewhere on this website, I did so to place on record my appreciation to Steve of Manchester and many others who have very similar experiences.

To have the effect of one’s work compared with one of the greatest works is something that I shall never forget. Such comparison is unwarranted. Then followed what is called … …

~ a pregnant pause ~

G-D looks upon the coffee table plain,

consider this, the size of the brain.

Now in comparison so generously awarded you,

consider where standest thou?

Here?

A youthful finger alights the table,
moving across the plain at lightning speed

No. Here.

There?!?

But that’s a dot on the edge. I’ll fall off!

Quite, Ian.

You have a very long way to go,

and a very, very great deal to learn.

Ian Bradley Marshall

2 January 2022
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