Honourably mentioned
 

At the village produce show,
in among the frantically
gesticulating gladdies,
the plump Victoria Sandwiches
and the soda breads of greater or less
ideological soundness,
how pleasant to find a homely friend
so startlingly transfigured;
the humble tuber, least instrument
in the orchestra of Plenty,
and gloriously done up
to the wildly improbable nines
and into a class of its own:
the Decorated Potato.

Charming, David. Google enlightened me about gladdies, Victoria Sandwiches and soda breads, though I’m still unsure about the ideological content of the latter. Something to do with Irish nationalism? I’d like to drop “and” from the penultimate line, but I’m not sure why. “Least instrument in the orchestra of Plenty” is my favorite bit. Ellan Vannin is becoming one of my favorite mythical landscapes.

You do a beautiful job of turning a lowly farmers’ market into a festive and enchanting party complete with musical accompaniment.
Delightful, David! Your poem is a paragon of personification.

.
Delightful in my eyes, too. I'm going to a farm today to see Clydesdales in honor of Mother’s Day. I wish I could bring you along for your thoughts : )

I'll be back.
.

I agree. It's charming indeed. My only suggestion would be to omit "into" in the penultimate line.

Yes, this is fun and witty. Who doesn’t like a good old ugly potato. Enjoyed.

Aah. The village show. Just in case some our readers aren't familiar with this eccentric and deadly serious British tradition, here is one of many possible links .

You will observe, for instance, that "if you show 2 sticks of Rhubarb instead of 3 or a jar of orange and lemon marmalade instead of orange and grapefruit, your exhibits may be rejected as “Not as Schedule”".

I do like the idea of a potato with a distinguished service medal.

Thanks for doing the research, Carl. The local soda bread is bonnag, and there tends to be a lot of controversy about what is - and is not - authentic bonnag, in terms of ingredients.

Great! Thanks Glenn. And Jim - one of our neighbours has Clydesdales (possibly not pure-bred). It's like having a moving statuary park at the end of our lane.

I'm pleased you like it, Rogerbob. I will look into that "into".

You're right about a good old ugly potato, John. Thanks.

That is a brilliant rule, Joe. Classic village show bureaucracy.

Cheers all

David

Both Roger and I felt there was something unnecessary in that line. I thought it was “and,” and he thought it was “into.” Take your pick—or not.

I know, Carl. I'm thinking.

Cheers

David

Hi David,

I also enjoyed this. I would also lose either "and" before "into" or the "to" of "into". I think like the idea of it being "done up into a class of its own", and you already have an "and" before gloriously, so I guess I'm for losing the "and" before "into".

My other nit is the semicolon. What is it's function? I don't understand it. It's not separating two independent clauses, since the phrase that follows it isn't an independent clause, and it's not serving as a listing comma in a complicated list. An en-dash would work, I think. Or a colon and swap the existing colon for an en-dash. Actually comma would work, too, I think.

Best,

Matt

Ah that's helpful. Thanks Matt, I have been wondering about that line.

As to your second point, my first thought was: what semicolon? But now I see it. And it should be a colon, I think.

Cheers for that (those).

David