Spectator competition winners: poems for a qwerty keyboard

In Competition No. 3174 you were invited to write a poem in which each line begins with the letters A S D F G H J K L Z X C V B N M, in that order.

One entry began: ‘Asinine/ Stupid/ Dumb/ Fatuous…’, and continued in a similar vein; a comment, perhaps, on my decision to set this comp. But despite the rumbles of discontent, the challenge produced a terrific showing: varied, witty and technically accomplished. Honourable mentions go to Shawn Chang, Hugh King, R.M. Goddard and Brian Murdoch. In a hotly contested week, the winners below snaffle £25 each.

Auden loved a dying fall,Spender not so much.Dryden was — well, rather dry, Frost wall-eyed and such. Ginsberg? Whitman’s long-lost son,Howling like a pup. Joyce sold Pomes Penyeach.Keats bigged beauty up.  Lowell sinned, confessed in verse, Zapped by drugs and drink.X-certificate VerlaineCreated quite a stink. Vaughan was holy, isn’t it?Byron deeply not.Noyes