In Competition No. 3000 you were invited to provide an answer, in verse or prose, to a famous literary question of your choosing.
Two admirably pithy responses to Hamlet’s dilemma came courtesy of Carolyn Beckingham:
‘To be, or not to be: that is the question.’
‘If you’re not certain, wait,’ is my suggestion.
The choice to live can be reversed at will;
You can’t say that about the choice to kill.
And Dr Bob Turvey:
When Hamlet first posed his old question,
Suicide was not worth a suggestion.
Because, at the time,
’Twas considered a crime;
Dignitas now allows its selection.
And there was much to enjoy elsewhere in a large, lively and varied entry. Bill Greenwell takes the bonus fiver; the rest earn £25.
Silvia’s a familiar fraud,
Perpetual to men —
Idealised, and much adored,
And worshipped if she’s from abroad,
When subject to man’s pen:
As firm of curve as avocado!
As fresh as ripening peach!
To any swell, she’s El Dorado —
Deneuve, Moreau, Loren and Bardot —
Perfected, out of reach.
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