COMPETITION

In Competition No. 1411 you were asked to respond as an American Poet Laureate, dead or alive, named or unnamed, to a typically governmental request for verses O n an occasion.

According to the Times Washington correspondent, the new post of US Laur- eate is the culmination of a 20-year cam- Paign by Senator Spark Matsunaga of Hawaii, himself a dabbler in the poet's art. Also Mr Reagan's favourite poems (which he recited in their entirety to nurses when he was in hospital) are 'The Cremation of Sam McGee' and 'The Shooting of Dan McGrew'. Whitman was your favourite Model, as I expected, but I was delighted by the wide range of your reluctant laur- eates: there were brave efforts by Robert Lowell (Nicholas Murray), Bob Dylan

Tough assignment

Jaspistos

(Commander Cloke), Sylvia Plath (Katie Mallett), Ezra Pound (Simon Herbertson), Stephen Crane (Basil Ransome-Davies), Emerson (George Moor), Carl Sandburg (Charles Mosley), Allen Ginsberg (Peter Norman and Bemi Wellgell), Archibald MacLeish (Roger Woddis) and of course Ogden Nash, the best two of which, by Mary Holtby and Nigel Bunker, would have been on parade in the winners' enclosure if space had allowed. As it is, the authors of the works printed below, re- gardless of whether or not they would have pleased their commissioners, win £9 each, and the bonus bottle of Champagne Victor Canard (Brut), presented by The John Milroy Soho Wine Mart, 3 Greek St, London W1 , is captured by E. S. Good- will. Thank you all for an enjoyable and glittering week.

The Arrival of Ferdinand Marcos on American Soil (Emily Dickinson) How sad for an ex-President — A dreadful thing, no doubt — To totter from your plane, and find No carpet is rolled out.

We offer shelter to our friends Whose livelihood has gone — Charity wilts when they appear — With a pantechnicon. (E. S. Goodwill)

On the State of the Nation Speech (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)

Regularly Mr Reagan Tells the States how they are doing, Tells the Nation what its state is, States the national condition, Makes a statement on the state of The United States, a statement Made with all the state that's going, All the state the States can summon.

What a state must Mr Reagan Get into before his statement!

How much less a state he'd be in If from his estate he made it, Set aside all state, and went to His estate to state the States' state.

Now my poor old head is aching, And I feel like Mr Reagan. (Paul Griffin)

The Redundacy of a Dictator (Marianne Moore)

It is an act of quite consum- mate and admirable tact to separate a people from a harsh, unpopular leader, come what might, and con- versely, a lead- er from his, alas, no lon- ger acquiescent people.

We have performed this, I need, therefore, plead no amendment, sir, when I say in my quaint prosody, Gent- lemen, a toast: the people of Manila! Marcos fled; we stay.

(Gerard Benson)

The Signing of the 1985 Farm Bill (Robert Frost)

This was to be the year of honest soil, The year of self-sufficiency and hope.

But then, mid-term elections don't come cheap And doubtless there were promises to keep, And so, once more, Maybe I'll set the sixteen-acre field To not-growing alfalfa, and the slope Where my father's draught horse used to steam and toil To rasing durum for the federal store.

The water meadow by the southern stream I'll leave in set-aside to rein back yield, And, where to not-grow sorghum I had planned I aim instead to not-grow buckwheat now.

Then I'll put Plato, our remaining cow, Into the government whole-herd buyout scheme And peace will settle over the sleeping land.

(Noel Petty)

(e e cummings)

i do not like the cap ital i do not like the cap itol and so i will not write upon the gi ants of the pentagon; a gi is another thing on flesh

i am prepared to sing (W. S. Brownlie)

The Last Funeral (Robert Frost)

Of all the Irish he was not the best; His head was heated, while his heart was cold. I lay my tribute down with all the rest: His brother honoured me when I was old. (Roger Jeffreys)