Lucy Vickery

Past regrets

issue 05 January 2013

In Competition No. 2778 you were invited to express your regret, in verse, for New Year’s resolutions not kept.

The challenge produced an entertaining outpouring of contrition. I enjoyed John MacRitchie’s twist on the Frank Sinatra classic: ‘I’ve packed my case too full,/ Made dreadful curries, in a Thai way,/ Each year, my diets flop,/ Who cares what I weigh?’ Commendations, and commiserations, to unlucky losers Juliet Walker, Tim Raikes, Mae Scanlan, Douglas G. Brown, Jayne Osborn and G.W. Tapper. The winners, below, get £25 each. Top prize goes to Brian Allgar, who pockets the extra fiver.

Happy New Year!
 

I swore I’d give up sex and saturnalia;
That was my optimistic resolution.
So no more ‘escorts’ (farewell, Chloë, Thalia) —
A euphemistic term for prostitution.


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