On the road

In Competition 2520 you were invited to submit a poem entitled ‘Meditation on the M25’.

In Competition 2520 you were invited to submit a poem entitled ‘Meditation on the M25’.

Betjeman’s portrayal of road rage in ‘Meditation on the A30’ — ‘You’re barmy or plastered, I’ll pass you, you bastard/ I will overtake you, I will — set me thinking about the misery inflicted by the London Orbital; those hours spent in a state of toddler-like fury with no discernible end in sight. I’m very fond of the A30, for all its faults, and wondered if perhaps the M25 has redeeming features I’ve failed to notice.

Not as far as the comping contingent is concerned. Here’s G.M Davies: ‘Where crazed boy racers alternate/ With gridlock and big rigs,/ And motorists propelled to hate/ Honk like demented pigs.’ You get the picture. David Silverman’s ‘sonnet on a bonnet’ gets the bonus fiver. The other prizewinners, printed below, net £30 apiece.