He Thought He Saw : .

The usual prize was offered for a six-line poem on the lines of Lewis Carroll's verses in Sylvie and Bruno beginning: 'He thought he saw .. . On this occasion he thought he saw one of the following: a senator, a space-machine, a flying disc, a movie star, a premier, a subsidy, a cigarette.

To read through large masses of undiluted nonsense has a paralysing effect upon one's powers of judgement. After about the fiftieth poem, one ceases to experience any of the astonishment which incongruities are intended to evoke; the wildest flights of fancy produce nothing beyond a rather weary smile. I found it difficult to exercise It nice discrirriination in insanity. What criterion should one apply to deliberate unreason? Anyone, I imagine, can write nonsense of a sort: in what does the pre-eminence of such masters as Lear and Lewis Carroll consist? Why should some' pieces of idiocy be memorable and others merely fatuous?

In good nonsense there should always, I think, be a hint of something that looks like sense; the sort of shadow of logic that runs through our most incoherent dreams. in selecting the objects that 'he thought he saw' I tried to give competitors a chance to introduce allusions to some of the madder aspects of the actual world; to hold, as it were, the distorting mirror up to nature. Most of them availed themselves of the Opportunity (though there were some inter- esting specimens of pure as opposed to applied imbecility).

1 found that the effect produced on me depended largely on the last two lines; a touch of wit or inspired lunacy there made all the difference, and it was here that Majority broke down. With much diffidence in my ability to draw invidious distinctions between the gibberings of the candidates, I award prizes of £1 each to John L. Young, Margaretta Bennett, Pibwob, P. M. and Douglas Hawson, with commendation for Miss H. A. Styles, I. Munro Fraser, M. R. Tannahill, Eileen Tulloch and A. M. Sayers.

PRIZES

(JOHN L. YOUNG)

I thought I saw a senator Unmask a communist;

I looked again and saw it was.

A statue lost in mist;

'0 Liberty,' I cried, 'you need A psycho-analyst,'

(MARGARETTA BENNETT)

He thought he saw a flying disc

That circled round the sun. He looked again and saw it was

The next world war but one. 'It's coming out of turn,' he said, 'So, Annie, get your gun.'

(pmwoa)

He thought he saw a Movie Star Dressed in a fur pelisse;

He looked again, and found it was A vote for pay increase; 'In either way it seems,' he said, 'A kind of Golden Fleece.'

M.)

He thought he saw a space machine Sweep past him tempest-tossed. He looked again and saw it was

(DOUGLAS HAWSON)

He thought he saw a flying disc That whirled through outer space: He looked again and found it was His first wife's mother's face. 'What cannot be escaped,' he said, 'Must be endured with grace!'

COMMENDED

(MISS H. A. STYLES)

He thought he saw a cigarette

All ready for a light.

He looked again and saw it was A Zeppelin in flight.

'If this should meet its match,' he said, 'My word! 'Twould smoke all right.'

(I. MUNRO FRASER)

He thought he saw a flying disc Careering through the sky.

He looked again and saw it was A piglet in a stye.

No gentlemanly pig,' he said, 'Would try to fly so high.'

(M. R. TANNAHILL)

He thought he saw a cigarette, That fought at Waterloo: He looked again and found it was

A Huntsman's View Halloo. 'I must say I prefer,' he said,

'To travel by canoe.'

(EILEEN TULLOCH)

He thought he saw a Senator Afloat off Plymouth Ho!

He looked-again, and found it was

His Brother's Little Toe: 'I'm glad to know the time,' he said,

'My watch is very slow.'