I tried to inhabit a man’s mind when writing it. Any comments as to how well I achieved this transgenderation would be welcome. Did Keats ever transgenderate?
Meg
The Shepherd
I look across the valley towards Pen Bryn Mawr
Over the rolling hillocks where the gorse is gloriously a-flower
The sun and wavering grass induces evening sleep
In me, my dog Fly and my flock of woolly sheep
The sun sets in the west over Llanyrhyl Hill
The wind has died down now and everything is still
My day’s work here is very nearly done
And soon I’ll go to the village and have some boozy fun
The shepherd deserves a drink or two
After a day of working so true
Then back to bed at an early hour
To rise at sunrise like a budding flower
The shepherd’s life is the one for me
I can’t imagine another so carefree
Honest sweat and calloused hands
The finest of men in these farming lands
I've always been intrigued by the male perspective in literature and I almost invariably choose to write from the male perspective when I compose stories and/or poems (if I choose to speak from a gendered perspective). I think it is because I already know what it's like to be a woman (not that all women have the same experience, by no means, but it is interesting to imaginatively explore a perspective that you cannot ever fully understand--such as the perspective of the opposite gender). What inspires you to write from the male perspective?
I suppose I did it as a challenge and to see how it felt. I think I might do it again.