Got a Handle
My cat is called Dog
and my dog is called Cat.
My rat is called Fish
whilst my fish is called Rat.
My brother’s named Sister.
My sister’s named Brother.
My mother is Father.
My father is Mother.
My boat is called Car
whilst my car is called Boat.
My goat is named Sheep
and my sheep is named Goat.
I think that I’m great
so I’m rather enjoying
the fact those who know me
all call me Annoying.
Now, I am often given to posting my work on social media. I find it to be a really useful way of gauging how popular a poem is, and whether or not it might thus be worthy of inclusion in a future book. The poem garnered a very positive response, and I got excited. The poem, I decided, would definitely find its way into my next collection. That was until the fabulous children's poet Kenn Nesbitt got in touch to say he had written something similar. You can read Kenn's wonderful poem here.
The similarity between my poem and his was entirely unintentional. Indeed, the poems actually end up going in two quite different directions. However, I decided that the level of similarity was such that I could not, after all, include my new poem in my next book. It was just too close for comfort. This is not the first time I have written a poem that ended up bearing an inadvertent resemblance to another poet's work. One solution, I guess, would be to never read anyone else's poetry. A better solution would be simply to do lots of Googling before getting too excited about something I've written. Oh well - you live and learn!
(update: Kenn has now been in touch to say that he has no objection if I choose to publish my poem in my next book. So maybe I will. Let's wait and see!)
