Breaking up is hard to do | 7 February 2019

In Competition No. 3084 you were invited to submit a poem entitled ‘Breaking up is hard to do’.
 
From David Kilshaw’s Brexit-inspired twist on Neil Sedaka — ‘Commons, commons, down, dooby, doo, down down…’ — to Dorothy Pope’s poignant haiku — ‘plum blossom petals/ mistaken now for snowflakes/ so cold is your love’ — this was an inventive and accomplished entry full of witty flourishes. Space is short this week, so without further ado I’ll hand over to the winners below, who earn £25 each.
 

In Dame Europa’s school the teachers peered
Out at the children thronging the school yard.
The term seemed to have lasted forty years,
But just now, breaking up was rather hard.
 
Some kids still milled about close by the school.
The French fought with each other on their own.
The German head girl tried to keep control,
But had to lend the Greeks their bus fare home.
 
The British children dawdled near the road
Hoping someone would tell them what to do.