FebulousFebruary 2026: The Old Photograph

day twelve

Have It Their Way

Judged and guilty of fornication

You’ve been condemned to hell’s damnation,

Caught in bondage, tied in rope

Heaven’s gates are beyond hope.

Don’t risk being shunned for being gay

Just shut yourself down, watch what you say,

Don’t wear whatever turns you on

Fear the thugs and religion’s con.

Don’t walk the path you feel you should

Swap good for bad and bad for good,

Stand on high ground, judge the others

Forget they are your sisters and brothers.

Sexy thrills are just depraved

Don’t be yourself, it’s ill behaved,

Always fear what others may say

And lurk in the sump of Sanity Bay.

Have It YOUR Way!

Why not have a thrill a day,

Be sexy, daring or downright gay?

Oh, to live life free from fetter

But sometimes handcuffs can be better!

Fear not the judgement and disdain

Of those who’d wish us hate and pain.

Hearts, fly free and swift as a dove

The God I understand is love!

So what’s the harm in a bit of bondage?

A slight rope burn might need a bandage.

A bit of play with a teacher’s cane

Hardly writes one off as insane.

Get hit with pies and covered in soup

Followed by custard and spaghetti hoop,

Life is more than just to survive

Make others smile ‘cause you feel alive!

The erotic love of being gay

The sacred beauty of same sex play,

To wear the clothes that turn us on

Go, live YOUR life, be glad you’re born!

Katie Bainbridge, 46, Penzance, Cornwall

day eleven

Always proud to be beside you

my fearsome friend

Your celtic lilt took us from lamp post to

the end

of the road…to the trees…to the lights

just don’t stop

Pick up your feet, just

keep

Running with all that Pride

Smile wide

Sweat dripping,

Hearts ripping

from chests large and small,

room for us all

To Stride with true Pride

Amber Timlett, 39, Kent

day ten

Long Distance Lovers

Four Years Ago:

That day, I felt giddy with fear,

That time to see her, was almost here,

Stepped off the train, into her arms,

Frog in my throat, sweat on my palms.

I can’t believe it’s her, her in the flesh,

I don’t know what to say, my mind a mess,

I stutter, I stammer, I struggle to find the words,

She smiles, she laughs, she gently calls me a nerd.

Soon after the train we are in the pub,

Getting used to this long distance lovers club,

Making the time count, each moment essential,

People around us, thinking we are mental.

The first weekend over before it’s even begun,

But in that time we had so much fun,

Only a weekend, one night in all,

It didn’t take long for my heart to fall.

Now:

People ask us, how has our love survived?

People ask how has our relationship thrived?

It’s easy we say, smiles on our faces,

Love has no bounds, even when we are in different places.

The miles between us do not matter,

When we see each other, our hearts pitter-patter,

We have that spark; it’s the real thing,

We even recently just got the rings!

The distance hurts; I can take it no more,

Sometimes we struggle, our hearts so sore,

Saying goodbye, so soon after hello,

Do you have to leave, do I have to go?

Soon we will be out of the long distance lovers club,

But with no regrets, it’s how we found our love,

So until I can sleep in her arms every night,

I will keep on calling to wish her a goodnight.

Keturah Watts, 23, Kent

day nine

Compersion

by Majikle

My girlfriend is a warm wide sea

Where other people swim, as well as me.

Her rising tides bring such unseemly bliss

That even if I could deny them this,

Why would I?

Capitulating to her insistent waves

Steals us away to exciting nights and carnal days.

The roll of her storms are exhausting but,

They take us further than we’ve ever got

Alone

My lover’s love is deep cleaning for the mind and skin

There is room for everyone to just dive in.

Her briny buoyancy holds our bodies up

In gravity defying, floating open sup

Of generosity

So if I chance to hear her mermaids call

As someone else unburies her treasure haul

Even if I can’t share those salty kisses

Who profits from her happinesses

But me?

day eight

Soon there will be bluebells

All but perfect.

Primrose nestled in the rootwork

of this mellow ash,

backed by holly

and the gentle scent of wild garlic

under the Spring sun warming all –

so nearly all –

but the missing note, I know,

is you.

Just you.

Sarah Tait, 43, Ramsgate

day seven

Twenty 2:

Thrown up against

The glass windows of the midnight

Buried in rain

Buried on doorstep

tasting your drenched out hair product on your face

to your lips.

With memory tastes

my mouth tastes now

like it tasted you then.

The water from the sky

Fed my body

So it could build to love you.

It fed my arms to adore you

Manifest that love in ways no one else could.

Chambers of my heart sing!

Taste me on the streets

On escalators

At restaurant tables

At a desk

At an open window.

In the rain

When glances across your imagination are so real you can touch them from across the room.

Want me

Go on

Miss and want me

Reach for me across train platforms

Look for me

With the deep rooted notion

That search

That sense

That taste of every midnight

Of every glass window

Of every rain.

Adam Lott, 35, Kent

day six

love

She snuggles in beside me – tight so not a hair could come between us. I feel the warmth of her body and the gentle ebb and flow of her breathing as she slips into sleep. I feel a profound, almost painful love for her. People don’t really understand.

‘that’s just weird’

I take no notice of course. No-one but me gets to decide who sleeps in my bed. Sometimes I feel sorry for those who haven’t felt the overwhelming joy of the unconditional, forever love that I feel for her vulnerable self. I adore her.

‘Just come and meet her’ they said.

‘Nope, not interested. Never again’

I was perfectly sure I was not ready for another relationship. Too much trouble. I wasn’t ready to be tied down.

‘Honestly, you will love her – really’

And they were right. We saw each other across the room. Our eyes locked and I knew immediately that despite all of my best intentions she would be coming home with me.

She makes me laugh, she makes me cry, she drives me mad, she is demanding and unreasonable and noisy and greedy and she pees on the carpet.

Puppy love.

Lel Meleyal, Brighton

day five

EPIPHANY

I didn’t get it!

Around about the age of 13, my sister and all of my friends went daft. They suddenly started to get stupid and giggly over boys we had known for our whole lives as scabby little scoundrels we wouldn’t give the time of day to.

I just didn’t get it!

My sister spent hours in her bedroom, mooching over some boy and listening to love songs with a gormless look on her face. I found myself a boyfriend or three just to try it out.

But I still didn’t get it!

At 17 I was desperate to leave home so I joined the Army. (Please don’t judge me, I was young!) On the first day we got a warning about girls being ‘over friendly’ and were advised to steer clear.

I didn’t get it!

I few weeks in, I was walking across the base when a girl jogging towards me tripped and fell. Smack, down on all fours at my feet; with admirable dexterity and lightning wit she got herself up on one knee, looked into my face with huge beautiful brown eyes and said, ”Will you marry me?”

WELL!

My belly did a few Olympic standard flip flops, blood rushed to my nether regions, my heart went super-nova and I suddenly understood the words to every love song ever written.

I FINALLY, INDISPUTABLY GOT IT!

Megan Williams, 60, Mid Wales.

day four

The pier train rattles across the estuaries silk lines,

Slick water pools in hesitant bunkers,

A glint of phosphorescent on the distant pulling tide,

Funnels jut definitely along Canvey’s coarse shore,

The dark inky night engulfs the boards,

A lone seal bobs with wide warm eyes,

The electric neon sparks fluorescent and in time,

Ignite the flooding dock, siren, discover me,

I sit alone, directly beneath Venus’s steady light.

Nat Bullard, 31 Essex

day three

True Love

True love has no rules,

It doesn’t care about boundaries,

It won’t be tamed by expectations…

Of yourself or of others.

True love ignores labels,

It can’t conform to stereotypes,

It refuses to accept judgement…

Of yourself or by others.

True love forgets prejudice,

It isn’t interested in ‘normal’,

It won’t listen to negative voices…

From yourself or from others.

True love cares about hearts,

It is ruled by individual truths,

It wants only respect and pride…

In yourself and of others.

Beth Angharad James, 33, Kent