Show time | 13 June 2013

In Competition 2801 you were invited to rewrite, in pompous and prolix style, any well-known simple poem.
 
Space is on the tight side so, pausing only to congratulate and commiserate with the longer-than-usual list of those who narrowly missed out — Mae Scanlan, Mary Holtby, Nigel Stuart, George Simmers, Rob Stuart, Ray Kelley, Adrian Fry (‘Jack Sprat possessed a remarkable antipathy to the consumption of adipose matter’) and Robert Schechter (‘This Be Not Standard Metrical Prosody’), take a bow — it’s over to the stellar prizewinners below, who earn £25 each.
 
Chris O’Carroll takes £30 for his elaboration on Ogden Nash’s four-line reflection on the best tool for ice-breaking (‘Candy is dandy…’).
 

Confections clad in chocolate (dark or milk),
A-shimmer with the glossy sheen of silk
Around some creamy, crisp or chewy filling,
Are treats with which to win treats still more
thrilling.
Nestled in niches in a gilt-trimmed box
They woo seductively. Candy unlocks
The heart and loins to which your own aspire.