‘God is gay’ claims Carol Ann Duffy in Orlando tribute poem
Carol Ann Duffy, winner of countless poetry prizes is, as some like to say, a national treasure.
What Carol Ann Duffy isn’t, however, is a woman who’s been known to tow the line.
Appointed the Queen’s Poet Laureate in May 2009, the 60-year old Scottish poet and playwright raised some eyebrows when she chose to keep quiet about Her Majesty’s 90th birthday and Prince George’s birth.
A spokeswoman for the ‘left-behind’ – she is a regular on the matters of brutality, injustice and persecution and has been raising her voice through sonnets and verses pointing out multiple political issues ever since she’s been writing.
As the tributes to Orlando still come pouring over our screens (see heart-rending Franck Ocean’s essay here) you can find Duffy’s striking poem below:
This writer is gay,
and the priest, in the old love of his church,
kneeling to pray.
The farmer is gay, baling the gold hay
out in the fields,
and the teacher, cycling to school each day.
The politician is gay,
though he fears to say,
knotting his tongue, his tie;
and the doctor is gay,
taking your human pulse in her calm way.
The scientist is gay,
folding the origami of DNA,
and the judge, in his grey wig, is gay.
The actress is gay,
spotlit in the smash-hit play;
the butcher, the baker, the candlestick-maker,
our children, are gay.
And God is gay.
Already a source of mockery and anger among a few of Brittany’s Christian leaders; it is, for the rest of us, just another proof that only reunited together, can we thrive during hard times:
‘’#LOVEISLOVE’’
After Orlando: Gay Love, a poem by Carol Ann Duffy #loveislove pic.twitter.com/7982Y1hbSR
— Matt (@themattmak) June 18, 2016
And love… that’s all we need, isn’t it?
Words: Salomé Baudino
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