The Unrepentant Virago

THE UNREPENTANT VIRAGO Named for a man, my treason’s not my own My tantalising tales tame his temerity As I cling to the cliff-hanger Of my own biopic, my to-be-tested verity He claims I am inevitable as the ocean And my head will roll, be beached upon the sand And he will come and take me by the hand. I will scream loudly history’s muffling cry Show female slavery, oppression till he wonders why The goddess in him was quenched, and died of thirst He thinks then that I will be the first To bandage up his Achilles heel with Elastoplast! Published, I’ m not damned, but live with gumption I’m here to fix his arrogant presumption. By Rosemarie Rowley