Competition | 5 September 2009

In Competition No. 2611 you were invited to provide a poem to be recited on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square.
Thanks to Juliet Walker, who suggested this challenge: it was a popular one that drew a large and bracing entry. What is more, I was unaware when I set it that there is already a fully fledged plinther poet in our midst. George Simmers, a regular on these pages, took to the plinth at 1 a.m. on 6 August and recited his specially composed poem, which begins: ‘So. Here we are. Trafalgar Square./ And I’m up here and you’re down there…’. A statement on his webzine, Snakeskin, reports that Mr Simmers ‘was there, he thoroughly enjoyed himself, and he didn’t fall off’. And, unlike some, he remained fully clothed.

Mike Morrison, G.M. Davis and Geoffrey Tapper shone but were narrowly outflanked by the winners, printed below, who get £30 each. The bonus fiver is Alan Millard’s.