The newest problem, to submit a poem starting ‘Sure. I keep in mind…’, was advised by a reader who was very taken with Adrian Bailey’s poem ‘First
The newest problem, to submit a poem starting ‘Sure. I keep in mind…’, was advised by a reader who was very taken with Adrian Bailey’s poem ‘First Love’, a intelligent riff on Edward Thomas’s much-loved ‘Adlestrop’, printed just lately on this journal.
The winners, in an entry that supplied a bracing blast of latest 12 months nostalgia, earn £25 every.
D.A. Prince
Sure, I keep in mind Germolene —
the densely-pink tinned-salmon hue,
its scent, spherical tin, unwonted gloss
like heat and antiseptic glue.
It soothed every graze from curler skates.
These tumbles from the playground swings? —
anaesthetised. It smelt of care,
did Germolene. And different issues.
One of many household: its power
was methods to remedy and maintain us cleaner,
and one imaginary buddy
(my sister’s) was referred to as Germolena.
All by the bumps of rising up
its firm has meant we thrive as
the not-too-scarred or wound-marked ones
however really what we’re: survivors.
Chris O’Carroll
Sure. I keep in mind Superman,
Initially referred to as Kal-El,
A hero from one other world
Who served Earth’s human household properly.
Our yellow solar endowed him with
Nice power and velocity. Plus, he may fly.
No gun or bomb may injure him.
He beamed a warmth ray from every eye.
His native world blew up. Its shards
Turned a deadly inexperienced particles
That weakened him and pained him with
The spectre of mortality.
We lack his powers, however this fact
He discovered is one we additionally know:
Some fragments from our origin
Will discover us all over the place we go.
Robert Schechter
Sure. I keep in mind Whathisname.
His eyes have been blue, or possibly brown.
He all the time wore a cheerful look,
Or was that look a mournful frown?
He used to chatter on continuous,
However wait . . .was he the silent one?
The time I used to spend with him
Was boring, proper? Or was it enjoyable?
I do recall as clear as day
I loaned him twenty quid and he
By no means paid me again. However wait.
He may need loaned the quid to me.
How’s he doing? Is he lifeless?
Does he keep in mind me as properly?
Please cross on my fond regards.
Or inform him I mentioned go to hell.
Paul Freeman
Sure. I keep in mind Viking One.
It orbited the planet Mars,
That stepping stone past the moon
Which marks our freeway to the celebs.
The planet’s breathless ambiance
Stirred up a storm, and from it thrust
Volcanic craters, dodo-dead,
Like rubies in a band of mud.
The orbiter snapped images
Of Martian moons, two tiny rocks,
And as soon as the air had cleared, deployed
A touchdown craft, which took its knocks
To win a plot of soil upon
One other world. Then by way of a hyperlink
Of digital wizardry
Confirmed alien skies of salmon pink.
Nicholas Hodgson
Sure. I keep in mind Paddington —
The title. It was the ultimate cease,
That late June day, of the categorical
From Worcester, by way of Adlestrop.
Harassed commuters strained to catch
The tannoy cheerfully declare
A platform alteration right here,
One other cancellation there.
And on that afternoon of warmth
Every particular person’s mood appeared to fray;
They jostled, pushed, impatient, impolite,
Worn down by the oppressive day.
This torrid place was Paddington —
Nevertheless it didn’t provoke despair:
The title’s shared with a kinder buddy,
A small, well mannered, well-meaning bear.
Basil Ransome-Davies
Sure, I keep in mind Carry Ons…
Their stone predictability,
The stockings and suspender belts,
The deathless pun on ‘infamy’.
Right here, innuendo discovered a house
Admitting any drained cliché,
A non-exclusive coverage
That match the style of yesterday.
Politically incorrect, though
Much less odious than childish.
The ribaldry was quite tame —
Naughty-naughty, English-style.
The principals could now be ghosts,
However not in cinematic Hell.
‘Satirically’ or in any other case,
On-line, full field units nonetheless promote.
Your subsequent problem, a nod to the current movie model of Cats, is to submit a poem that includes certainly one of T.S. Eliot’s feline creations attending to grips with the fashionable world, e.g. Skimble-shanks the Railway Cat rides HS2. Please e mail entries of as much as 16 traces to [email protected] by noon on 29 January.