Poetic pitch

In Competition 2813 you were invited to submit an application in verse, from the poet of your choice, for the position of poet laureate.

There were robust bids from poets who were passed over for the laureateship on account of their questionable politics — Pope, for example, and Milton — as well as from those that made the grade: Betjeman, Hughes, Wordsworth and Nahum Tate all threw their hat in the ring. Other eloquent pleas came from McGonagall, who would surely have challenged Alfred Austin for the crown of worst rhymester, Ogden Nash and Dylan Thomas.

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Matthew Lynn

Where is Rachel Reeves?

Mae Scanlan, Gerard Benson, Mike Morrison, Sylvia Fairley and Paul Evans were unlucky losers. The winners take £30 each. Alanna Blake earns £35.
 

I pen these lines to whom it may concern
As, in the line for laurels, ’tis my turn.