Competition
Two hander
In Competition No. 2871 you were invited to submit a dialogue in verse between man and God. The tone of…
Autumn villanelle
In Competition No. 2870 you were invited to submit an autumn villanelle. Stephen Fry likes villanelles. The form inspired him…
Spooner verse
In Competition No. 2869 you were invited to submit a poem on any theme as it might have been written…
Magic touch
In Competition No. 2868 you were invited to take something mundane and filter it through the lens of magic realism.…
And another thing
In Competition No. 2867 you were invited to add a final stanza to a well-known poem. Nicholas Stone imagined how…
Prose poem
In Competition No. 2866 you were invited to pick a well-known poem and write a short story with the same…
Selfie
In Competition No. 2865 you were invited to compose a poet’s elegy for him or herself. This challenge took you…
Hidden benefits
In Competition No. 2864 you were invited to submit an imaginary feature from a newspaper’s health pages extolling the benefits…
Rhyme time
In Competition No. 2863 you were invited to recast a well-known nursery rhyme in the style of a well-known author.…
Dark thoughts
In Competition No. 2862 you were invited to submit a poetic preview of when the lights go out. Submissions were…
Tourist misinformation
In Competition No. 2861 you were invited to submit misleading snippets of advice for British tourists travelling abroad. A previous…
Pet sounds
In Competition No. 2860 you were invited to submit a short ode on the death of a pet in unusual…
Voter repellent
In Competition No. 2859 you were invited to submit an offputting party political broadcast by the Tories, Labour, the Lib…
Hidden talent
In Competition No. 2858 you were invited to imagine that a well-known figure from 20th-century history was a secret poet…
Spinning Jenny
In Competition No. 2857 you were invited to take the first line of Leigh Hunt’s mini rondeau ‘Jenny Kissed me’,…
Soccer lesson
In Competition No. 2856 you were invited to recruit a well-known author of your choice to give Phil Neville a…
Dead-end job
In Competition No. 2855 you were invited to compose an elegy for an endangered profession. Estate agents, travel agents, publishers,…
Fresh food
In Competition No. 2854 you were invited to invent a title for a new cookery book, with a fresh angle,…
Ground work
In Competition No. 2853 you were asked to incorporate the following words (they are real geological terms) into a piece…
Unlikely champion
In Competition No. 2852 you were invited to step into the shoes of a well-known writer of your choice and…
Paxmanic
In Competition No. 2851 you were invited to mark Jeremy Paxman’s departure from Newsnight by supplying an extract from an…
Proverbial
In Competition No. 2850 you were invited to invent proverbs that sound profound but have no meaning. This was an…
Lines on the Beeb
In Competition No. 2849 you were invited to submit a poem in praise or dispraise of the BBC. The entry…
Scottish question
In Competition No. 2848 you were invited to submit a poem commenting on Scottish independence in the style of William…
Double celebration
In Competition No. 2847 you were invited to submit a poem celebrating a famous duo. You wheeled out a colourful…
