Acrostic | 5 July 2006

In Competition No. 2450 you were invited to offer a poem, on any subject, in which the first letters of each line spell out MIDSUMMER NIGHT.

It’s surprising how many people think that Midsummer’s Day is on 21 June. That is calendrically the longest day. The 24th, the feast day of St John the Baptist (and my birthday), is the true magical day of Shakespeare’s play; it is also, less happily, Quarter Day, when debts fall due and, as Keith Norman cheerfully tells me, along with Christmas the time of year when most suicides occur.

The prizewinners, printed below, get £25 each, and the bonus fiver goes to Paul Griffin for his poem entitled ‘Repertory’.

Making no bones about my trepidation,
I clean my face and slap on sticks of grease,
Don the posh surcoat that befits my station,
Seeking the phrases for my opening piece.
Unless I learn the words a great deal faster
My memory is going to let me down,
Making my entry a complete disaster,
Ending our reputation in this town.
Resolve