None of us won anything in the Thank-you-letter competition but none of us entered it as I remember, except me. Of course Bill will have done. So hard cheese Bill.
No. 2629: Palinode
In a palinode a poet retracts something written in an earlier poem. You are invited to submit a palinode on behalf of a well-known poet (16 lines maximum). Please specify the original poem and the poet, and please email entries, where possible, to
lucy@spectator.co.uk by midday on Wednesday 6 January.
I actually knew what a palinode was. I wrote one. Actually I thought it was a poem about the past. Fortunately mine fitted anyway. OK. I've done a proper palinode. It's the bleeding obvious, but at least I've done it FIRST. Question: does ANYONE call hot water bottles hotty-botties? Oh and is Pa's the correct way to write the plural?
Palinode: This Be The Verse – Philip Larkin
They tuck you up, your Mum and Dad,
With Teddy and a hotty-botty.
They make you happy when you’re sad,
And give you Calpol when you’re grotty.
And they had lovely Ma’s and Pa’s
Who fed them on hot-buttered toast
And pickled eggs from Kilner jars
And read them bits of Picture Post.
So let’s have heaps of kiddikins,
Where everything is fine and funny.
It’s where true happiness begins,
With lots of love and lots of money.
Speccie: Palinode
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