Spectator competition: poets’ acrostics (plus: great bores of today)

The most recent test of competitors’ skill, wit and ingenuity called for acrostics in the style of a well-known poet, where the first letters of each line spell out the poet’s name. This turned out to be a challenge of unprecedented popularity. Entries came pouring in from regulars and newcomers alike. The poets chosen ranged from Virgil, Sappho and Basho to Spike Milligan and Pam Ayres. Wordsworth, Eliot and Larkin cropped up a lot but John Betjeman was the top choice. Bill Greenwell was on fine form. I was impressed by both his take on Billy Collins’s poem ‘Forgetfulness’ and by his Spenserian stanza in the manner of Wendy Cope — a parody within a parody. I also liked Jerome Betts’s neat follow-up to Oliver Goldsmith’s ‘The Deserted Village’. Clever stuff. Others worthy of note in a vast and impressive field were Barbara Smoker, Brian Murdoch and S.E.G. Hopkin. The winners take £20.