In Competition No. 3029 you were invited to provide a new year’s resolution (or more than one) in verse.
Woody Guthrie’s 1943 ‘new years rulin’s’ have considerable charm: ‘Dont get lonesome; stay glad; dream good; shine shoes; wash teeth if any…’ But perhaps it was Nietzsche who inspired Basil Ransome-Davies’s entry. In 1882, he resolved to become a yes-man: ‘I do not want to wage war with the ugly. I do not want to accuse, I do not want even to accuse the accusers… I wish to be at any time hereafter only a yea-sayer!’
David Silverman’s spin on Thomas Hood’s ‘No!’ was nice. Alanna Blake, George Simmers and Nicholas Stone also impressed in a strong field. The winners below earn £25 each. Happy New Year!
Winter breathes hope, and not of spring alone.
Ergo, my resolution is to be
A newborn optimist — no more for me
Recrimination, fear or that sour tone
Envious lefties put on to disown
And scorn our heritage so viciously.
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