Acrostic
In Competition No. 2888 you were invited to submit a poem in the style of a well-known poet, the first…
Heaven and hell
In Competition No. 2887 you were invited to describe your idea of heaven or hell in verse. Nietzsche famously said…
Londoner’s Diary
In Competition No. 2886 you were invited to submit a Pepys’-eye view of modern life. Pepys’s candid and minutely observed…
As you liken it
In Competition No. 2885 you were invited to write a sonnet beginning ‘Shall I compare thee to a [trisyllable of…
Hair brained
In Competition No. 2884 you were invited to submit a poem in praise or dispraise of beards. The beard has…
Your problem solved
In Competition No. 2883 you were invited to cast a well-known writer, living or dead, in the role of agony…
Election blues
In Competition No. 2882 you were invited to submit a blues song written by a well-known politician contemplating the impending…
Lines on law
In Competition No. 2881 you were invited to do as Carol Ann Duffy has done and provide an amusing poem…
Hard sell
In Competition No. 2880 you were invited to provide a publicity blurb for the Bible to sell it to a…
Rehabilitation
In Competition No. 2879 you were invited to follow in the footsteps of Hilary Mantel and provide a scene that…
New year haiku
In Competition No. 2878 you were invited to submit a poem composed of three haikus that looks forward to the…
Season’s greetings
In Competition No. 2877 you were invited to submit a Christmas round robin as it might have been written by…
It’s a rap
In Competition No. 2876 you were invited to submit an example of an ill-advised foray by a poet laureate, past…
Verse Viagra
In Competition No. 2875 you were invited to submit a poem about an unlikely aphrodisiac. Thanks are due to that…
Problem child
In Competition No. 2874 you were invited to submit a scene written by a well-known children’s author of the past…
Concrete poem
In Competition No. 2873 you were invited to submit a poem in praise or dispraise of a well-known building. It…
Thanks but no thanks
In Competition No. 2872 you were invited to submit an author’s acknowledgments page that contains subtle indications that no thanks…
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…
