Lucy Vickery

Spectator competition winners: poets bemoan a problematic appendage

‘Take pity on my face. You see,/ These brows are always arched’. [Ian Dickson / Contributor] 
issue 30 April 2022

In Competition No. 3246, you were invited to submit a poem in the style of the poet of your choice about a problematic appendage.

Taking pride of place alongside Philip Larkin’s troublesome penis were Heaney’s big toe, Shelley’s belly, and a series of noses, among them Mike Morrison/Ogden Nash:

This nose/conk/beak/hooter/schnozzle Has brought me nothing but anguish and schemozzle…

An honourable mention also goes to Alex Steelsmith/Edward FitzGerald:

The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ, Moves on – and there’s the Rub; it doesn’t quit.

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