Spectator competition winners: odes to unglamorous vegetables

In Competition No. 3294, you were invited to provide the first 16 lines of an ode to a turnip or another similarly unglamorous vegetable. This assignment was prompted, of course, by Thérèse Coffey’s suggestion that we respond to shortages in salad vegetables by embracing the turnip. But I also had in mind the wonderful odes of Pablo Neruda, which celebrate the commonplace: onions, lemons, a piece of tuna in the market. 

In a witty and well-made entry, echoes ranged from Pindar to Keats. Commendations to Hunter Liguore, Ann Drysdale and Richard Spencer. The winners earn £25.

Thou staunch, unrivalled beet of bulk and brawn,
Thou offspring of the fecund, fertile soil,
Long to thy leaves and roots have men been drawn
To steam or mash, or dice, or brew, or boil;
Like cannon balls your magnitude and weight
Brim full of wholesome nutrients and worth,
The appetite of man and beast can sate
And outclass all that grows in loamy earth.