Competition | 2 May 2009

In Competition No. 2593 you were invited to submit a Dear John letter in the style of a poet or author of your choice.

These days, dispatching a loved one generally involves texting ‘u r dumped’ or ‘i h8 u’ and pressing send. This comp was prompted by a longing for a return to the time when giving the heave-ho was a protracted business; when jilters sat hunched over a blank sheet of paper for hours on end, agonising over the right choice of words.

You were out in force this week, both veterans and newcomers. Verse outnumbered prose by a long way. Robert Burns and Elizabeth Barrett Browning featured strongly, while Joan Hunter Dunn was consigned to the scrapheap with great panache by Katie Mallett and G.M. Davis.

In a strong field, Brian Murdoch, Frank Osen, George Simmers, R.S. Gwynn, Mary Holtby and D.A. Prince stood out. The winners, printed below, get £25 each, except G.