[Jayne Osborn]

Here's the next competition. I don't know who the 'Glynn' was in Glynnese here, and couldn't find out from a quick Google search. I'm sure someone will enlighten me. I might be one of those who can't get enough of trying on new footwear (Ah, but 'trying on' isn't the same as buying lots of shoes, with the fervour of Imelda Marcos, is it?)

Jayne

COMPETITION No 147
by Tessa Castro

An ‘old shoe’ was the Glynnese term for a friend with whom one is comfortable. But some people I know can’t get enough of trying on new footwear. A poem, please, then, called ‘New Shoes’. Maximum 16 lines.

Entries to ‘Competition 147’ by post
(The Oldie, 65 Newman Street, London W1T
3EG), fax (020 7436 8804), or email
(comps@theoldie.co.uk) by 10th February.
Don’t forget to include your postal address.

[basil ransome-davies]

http://ladylucycavendish.blogspot.co...-glynnese.html

[Jayne Osborn]

Brilliant. Thanks, Bazza. I knew someone would quickly come to the rescue! I shall enjoy reading that.

(I'd failed to do the bleedin' obvious, as your namesake would have said, and Google simply 'Glynnese'.)

[John Whitworth]

Jayne, you have missed that Yorkshire Tea is no longer on offer, alas, but only a Chambers Biographical Dictionary. Not bad of course, but I just enjoyed my last cup of Yorkshire.

[Jayne Osborn]

Damn, you're right, John. I forgot to mention that. And I SO wanted one of those tea-sets. Boohoo.

But now I want a Chambers Biographical Dictionary! (You can't say 'only'.) I'm crazy about dictionaries.

[John Whitworth]

Here's my stab at it.


New Shoes

Old friends are dead. Nothing can fill their spaces.
What are they like? Like missing teeth perhaps?
We grin into the mirror, taste the gaps.
So is it with dead friends. We see the faces.
We see them with our eyes tight shut, the places
Where once we got to know them, all the maps
We populate with steady, sturdy chaps,
And girls so beautiful, their airs and graces.

Old friends, old shoes. It's time for us to part.
If we should meet again as more and more
I think, or rather know, that we shall not,
If we should meet we can unlock the door,
Remembering what now is best forgot.
But now, new shoes, new friends, a change of heart.

[Jayne Osborn]

Have you missed a bit off the end, John, or should there be a full stop - only it ends with a comma,

[John Whitworth]

No, there's no more, Jayne The comma is a mistake. Thank you for spotting it.

[FOsen]

Ouch - I cut myself on that turn, John. Very nicely done.

Frank

[basil ransome-davies]

A sly touch of Auden at the finish, John. Steal from the best, I say.