THE GATEWAYS CLUB, LONDON, 1965

by Barbara A. Taylor


The Gateways Club scene from The Killing of Sister George (1968) dir. Robert Aldrich.


into this
darkness
skip to my lou

I rang the brass bell on that green door. A slot opened. Eyes peered through an open grill. Permitted to enter, we stepped down a steep dark stairwell. In the cellar it seemed that all heads turned to us. As we pushed through the throng and choking smoke to a noisy bar, I watched swaying couples – butch and femme playing out their roles. “Bottoms up!” proffered a lanky woman in three-piece Donegal Tweeds, wearing a monocle. Others wore fancy braces, tuxedos, tails, bow ties or neatly pressed jeans. There was plenty leather, and frills, boas and ballroom gowns: formal, casual, rough, the tattooed and tough. Dusty Springfield blared, got them jiving and twisting. There wasn’t a space on that slippery floor. Indeed, no matter what the tempo, they’d be cheek-to-cheek circling this tiny spot under fluorescent strobes. My friend squeezed my hand. At last, we were safe together, we were happy. Just imagine, hidden here in this Chelsea basement, we felt freely alive, celebrating, back in those undercover days of circa sixty-five.

underground
flying high
as a kite

"Each day demands that I write and that my fingers touch and feel the earth." Free verse poems, renku, haiga, haibun, haiku, tanka, and other Japanese short form poetry by Barbara A. Taylor appear in many international journals and anthologies on line and in print, including Frogpond. The Heron's Nest, Eucalypt, Atlas Poetica, Wisteria, Skylark, Kokako, Modern English Tanka, Red Lights, TinyWords, Contemporary Haibun On Line. She lives in the Rainbow Region, Northern NSW, Australia.

LIKE YOU, MARGARET COURT

by Diane Elayne Dees

“Court, 74, now a pastor in Perth, has reignited debate about her legacy and how the sport should celebrate her by making a series of inflammatory comments recently about gays and same-sex marriage. Her beliefs are not new — her public comments first stirred protests in 2012 — but her unflinching remarks have provoked some current players to say they would object to playing on a court named after her.” –The New York Times, May 31, 2017

I wonder if you know your Kinsey number,
or is it just too scary to report,
and might it go a long way to encumber
the zeal of someone like you, Margaret Court?

It's a rare thing to be a Kinsey zero,
whether you're in business, school, or sport,
and though you claim that Jesus is your hero,
I'm not sure he would like you, Margaret Court.

The last I checked, no lesbians were seducing
the players who you say were not their sort.
Besides, it doesn't take too much deducing
to conclude they wouldn't like you, Margaret Court.

Too bad for you, gay marriage is in fashion,
and your words of fear and hate do not comport
with your Bible's call to love and show compassion—
But isn't that just like you, Margaret Court?

Diane Elayne Dees's poems have been published in many journals and anthologies. Diane, who lives in Louisiana, also publishes Women Who Serve, a blog that covers women's professional tennis worldwide. (In December, Women Who Serve featured a re-write of A Christmas Carol, in which Margaret Court appeared as Scrooge.)