Spectator competition winners: ‘By Waterloo Station I sat down and…’

The latest challenge called for a poem that begins ‘By Waterloo Station I sat down and…’. Some of you begged, some swore, others slept. But most, in a pleasingly sizable entry, took their lead from weeping Elizabeth Smart. There was a welcome influx of newcomers this week, alongside the familiar names, and the tone ranged from the comic to the poignant. Honourable mentions go to Paul Freeman, Gloria Brown, Ian Barker, Tim Raikes and Alan Mil-lard. The winners below pocket £30 each and include George Simmers’s natty twist on Matthew Arnold’s friend Arthur Hugh Clough’s ‘Dipsychus’ (‘How Pleasant It Is to Have Money…’).

Nick MacKinnon By Waterloo Station I sat down and prayed that the 2.10 to Bruton would not be delayed; it’s beastly at Eastleigh, it’s tangled at Wool, and lately at Grateley the toilets are full. The shambles at Hamble’s a blot on the line, and folks down at Pokesdown have started to       whine; they’re surly at Earley and grumpy at Fleet, and from Havant they haven’t a standard-class       seat.

It’s simple at Whimple: the network’s a hash, it’s choking at Woking, it’s smoking at Ash; at Oxshott the clock’s not in time with the trains which are filthy at Hilsea and squalid by Staines.

At Clandon abandon all hope for the day for the track’s bent at Bentley and buckled at       Sway; from Wareham to Fareham there’s been a       malfunction, so I’m walking from Dorking to Effingham       Junction.

Bill Greenwell By Waterloo Station I sat down and glued My hands to the walls, my eyes to the street; I was nauseous, noxious and totally nude.