But I can now reveal my poem, a playful little thing on the theme of 'reluctant heroine'.
I don't know if the rhyme scheme has been used before. I haven't seen it but that doesn't mean it hasn't been used. But, if it hasn't, perhaps I can claim it and think of a name for the form later.
Grace Darling
She rescued people
from Forfarshire, the leaflet said.
I didn’t realize
Forfarshire was that bad, I said.
I like to think I’m a great comedian.
I am the world’s worst bad comedian.
I had to think of a reluctant heroine
And so googled ‘reluctant heroine’,
For I had already thought of Grace Darling
And so was pleased it found me Grace Darling.
It needs be that I write some poetry
About her, then, some poetry
About the lashing waves, the raging violence
Of the sea. The savage violence
That the young girl took upon herself,
With so little thought for herself,
To challenge with her selfless bravery,
Apparently the sort of bravery
Not all of us would have. Not me.
I’d be very reluctant, me.
But she became folk lore, history,
A part of local history
Recorded for us tourists on a leaflet
That I mis-read. A badly-written leaflet,
It must have been, you see,
Because now I look her up I understand. I see
It meant she rescued them from the SS Forfarshire,
Which was a boat and not, in fact, from Forfarshire.
