Competition
Chamber music
In Competition No. 3311, you were invited to submit a song suitable for inclusion in a parliamentary songbook. In an…
Verse in reverse
In Competition No. 3309, you were invited to compose a poem starting with the last line of any well-known poem…
Travellers’ tales
In Competition No. 3208 you were invited to submit a short story whose first or last line is: ‘“Is there…
The Italian job
In Competition No. 3207 you were invited to submit a verse obituary of Silvio Berlusconi. The Italian former prime minister…
Futurism
In Competition No. 3306, you were invited to submit a poem about procrastination. Procrastination looms large in Out of Sheer…
Sonnets on sonnets
In Competition No. 3305, you were invited to submit a sonnet entitled ‘Sonnet On Famous And Familiar Sonnets’. The germ…
Love me do
In Competition No. 3302, you were invited to compose a dating app profile for a writer of your choice. To…
Brunch with Byron
In Competition No. 3300, you were invited to describe in verse a meal of your choice with a well-known poet,…
Triplicate
In Competition No. 3298, you were invited to provide a book review in three haiku. When I saw that the…
Triple time
In Competition No. 3296, you were invited to provide a poem whose rhyme words are all at least three syllables.…
Vegetarian
In Competition No. 3294, you were invited to provide the first 16 lines of an ode to a turnip or…
Speaker’s corner
In Competition No. 3292, you were invited to provide a poem to mark the death of Betty Boothroyd. The formidable…
Let us pray
In Competition No. 3290, you were invited to recast the Lord’s Prayer as a sonnet. The late Frank Kermode reckoned…
Man down
In Competition No. 3289, you were invited to provide an extract from a politically correct version of a work by…
Bring up the bodies
In Competition No. 3288, you were invited to supply a sonnet on an embarrassing ailment. To make space for as…