Lookist

In Competition No. 2957 you were invited to submit a poem with a title that is a twist on that of Keats’s sonnet ‘On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer’.

There was a fair amount of doubling-up this week: while G.M. Davis and Tracy Davidson decided to speculate on what the first perusal of an Ann Summers shop window might be like, impressive entries from both Jayne Osborn and Alanna Blake revealed the contents of a teenage daughter’s diaries.

There was a lot of skill on show elsewhere too: commendations to Paul Evans, A.R. Duncan-Jones, Tony Goldman, Tim Raikes John Whitworth and John Priestland. The winners take £25 each. Max Ross nabs £30.

On First Looking into a Telescope
‘How beautiful the moon’, I heard folk say,
‘When captured in a telescopic view,’
But I, alas, was not among the few
Who scanned the wonders of the Milky Way
Until a tutor summoned me, one day,
To share the lunar secrets that he knew
And in a moment rumours all came true.
Selene smiled, in garments ghostly grey.
Then felt I like John Keats when he first read
Homeric tales in Chapman’s crisp translation,
And everything astronomers had said
Stood undisguised, above all expectation.
And just as Keats was by his Muses led
To pen his words, I too found inspiration.
Max Ross
 
On First Looking into the Chilcot Report
‘Please know that I’ll be with you, come
whatever.
And though our love’s a secret, do not fear:
if there are obstacles, I will endeavour
to find a way to make them disappear.
 
‘Your body language rocks, and I’m distracted
by manly fantasies in which we wrestle
and roll upon the floor and then [REDACTED]
Relationships like ours are truly special.
 
‘The things I’ll do with you should be illegal
Some might even say they are a sin.
But I would risk the world for you, my eagle.
To hell with consequences, let’s dive in.