In Competition No. 2484 you were invited to provide the first 16 lines of an ‘Ode to Vegetables’. Thank you for the kind words that have been reaching me at the Charing Cross Hospital. Mike Morrison’s entry was particularly bracing:
I’ve never known a patient quite like you,
Jaspistos: no, you can’t have Irish stew …
‘May I have cheese on toast?’ No, you may not,
It’s Hobson’s choice here, sunshine — that’s shallot!
My challenge called for either the solemnity of an Erasmus Darwin or Auden in a light-hearted mood, but the results were disappointing.
Disagree with half of it, enjoy reading all of it
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