In Competition No. 2782 you were invited to submit a poem in praise of fatness. Thanks to John Whitworth for this magnificent and timely topic. What better, at this self-flagellatory time of year, than a celebration of the consequences of festive excesses?
My heart went out to Basil Ransome-Davies, who bemoans the metamorphosis of Sophie Dahl from plushly plump to fashionably slender:
But farewell to the Rubens plumpness Sophie used to flaunt,
For fashion’s sake now traded for the skeletally gaunt.
And I enjoyed Charles Curran’s entry, which finishes with this rousing couplet:
Three cheers for every man with XL trousers!
We’ll never join the calorie-counting grousers!
The prizewinners below take £25 each. D.A Prince scoops the extra fiver
Gaunt winter spareness starves our sight:
Bleak scrawny trees, bark black as night.
So draw the curtains, lock the door,
And contemplate what Rubens saw.
He relished flesh. You’d warm your hands
At nakedness he understands:
That rich abundance, ample grace
In hips, thighs, buttocks, breasts and face,
While dimpled creases, rolls of pink,
Enlarge us more than we might think.
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