Shipping lines

In Competition No. 3027 you were invited to submit a poem inspired by the Shipping Forecast.
 
Life-saver, lullaby, poetic reminder of our maritime heritage, the Shipping Forecast celebrated its 150th anniversary this year. Charlotte Green has described it as the nearest she ever came to reading poetry on air; Carol Ann Duffy ended her poem ‘Prayer’ with the lines ‘Darkness outside. Inside, the radio’s prayer —/ Rockall. Malin. Dogger. Finisterre’; and Seamus Heaney wrote a beautiful sonnet ‘The Shipping Forecast’.
 
Its incantatory magic inspired a entry that was funny, poignant and varied, in both content — cricket, adultery, the choppy waters of Brexit — and form (haiku, sonnet, villanelle…). The winners, printed below, take £30 each. D.A. Prince snaffles the extra fiver.
 

Valentia, my sweetest love,
Sandettie’s playing jazz above
while we let Ardnamurchan point
the Scilly way to light a joint.
We’re in our Forties so we know
how German Bight can spoil the show;
to me your Sole Bay spirit’s dearer
than both the kingdoms of Utsire.