If you are/ were to be gay

[mollykins]

would you find a poem where a dad is homophobic (and says 'you bl00dy queer' amongst other things) to his son, offensive?

I'm now looking through my anthology to find it but I think its by Carol Ann Duffy.

[jackthehat]

Context is all.............

[mollykins]

Its actually by Simon Armitage and is from 'book of matches' 'my father thought it . . .'

[joeluke]

Its what I'd say to my boy if he was one

[mollykins]

Its about a teenager who is growing up and gets hsi ear pierced etc etc but i don't think that the dad is homophobic and the boy is actually gay, reading it again, its just that my friend who is, thought that it was a homophobic poem.

the dad thought that it was bl00dy queer that the son had got an earring and longish hair (which my friend also has both of).

[ummmm]

What is your point?

My son often calls me gay....

[jackthehat]

Refer to my first answer.............and ignore joeluke.

[mollykins]

Exactly jack is context and he isn't calling the son queer, just the situation.

[beso]

A poem is a story. Someone expresses something, perhaps from their own experience. It doesn't mean promoting it as a way to behave. Indeed sometimes the portrayal of this kind of thing in context can make a very strong statement about acceptance.

The most beautiful portrayal of the interactions between a young gay man and his father was The Sum of US with Jack Thompson and Russell Crowe. The movie is a credit to both actors and all those who made it. Well worth seeing.

Some lines in that movie could seem offensive taken out of context so I would not presume to judge upon a single line from a poem.

[rowanwitch]

Poems even those meant to be offensive are often less so than prose.... but is it any worse than Phillip Larkins classic that starts' They f*** you up your mum and dad...one I love by the way...sometimes poetry can make a strong statement but the restrictions of structure and metre etc can dilute a message, because I think you look at the words not only as meaning but as pattern. At the same time the effort needed to craft a poem can sometimes add weight to words, That is why I think that is why it is the best vehicle for romantic sentiment and memorial pieces. I'm gay as are many of my friends, we can choose to read a poem or ignore it, if I was offended I am more likely to write my own hopefully funny one as a rebuttal and try and get it published...I will try to find the one you are posting about on google may come back on this one..

[rowanwitch]

My father thought... from book of Matches by Simon Armitage
As Jack said, context is all,, more illustration of the generation gap and how a choice made by a young man is not understood by an older person who had his own preconceptions . I don't think it is offensive, I am sure even today fathers up and down the country have similar reactions to sons coming home with piercings,

[mollykins]

precisely!