[Catherine Chandler]

Read all about it here:

http://montrealprize.com/

[Roger Slater]

In US dollars, that's $52,176. Not bad for a 40 line poem -- though maybe a US poem is allowed to be 42 lines? I'm not sure about the poem conversion rates.

Maybe I'll just submit a haiku in an effort to set a world record for the highest payment per syllable ever received for a poem.

Thanks for the info. How very strange this contest is.

[John Whitworth]

All that money and it comes down to that fellow Motion judging it. You KNOW the winner will be rubbish - probably African rubbish. And I could have that money!!!

[Roger Slater]

John, write African rubbish if that's what you think is needed to win. After all, if the Speccie competition called for African rubbish, you'd happily accept the assignment all for a chance to win 25 quid.

[W.F. Lantry]

Originally Posted by Roger Slater

if the Speccie competition called for African rubbish, you'd happily accept the assignment

Ouch, John! Besides, how bad can this Motion person be? After all, didn't you guys once hand him a butt of sack?

Thanks,

Bill

[John Whitworth]

Nobody knows how he got the butt of sack. They wanted to give it to Seamus Heaney but they couldn't because he is an Irish citizen. They should have given it to Ursula Fanthorpe but perhaps she didn't want it. Let me spell it out. I do not think everything that comes out of Africa is rubbish. It was a (perhaps unfortunate) shorthand for the sort of thing Motion will like. He will pick an African for non-poetry reasons. Or I think he will. If they must have a Poet Laureate the present one would be better.

I don't think you get the sack these days. Or was it Malmsey? You can drown people in Malmsey. Richard iii had his brother, the Duke of Clarence, drowned in Malmsey. Supposedly.

[W.F. Lantry]

Originally Posted by John Whitworth

Richard iii had his brother, the Duke of Clarence, drowned in Malmsey.

Yes, very unseemly. But you guys are always doing that sort of thing. Didn't you pickle Nelson in a barrel of brandy? A fine howd'yedo for Trafalgar, that one!

Thanks,

Bill

[John Whitworth]

Nelson was dead already. Clarence wasn't. Different, doncha know.

[Philip Quinlan]

I predict that Bill will have entered this one well before I wake up next morning. And probably won it. Me, I'm too tired from the day job.

All hail, Kate!

P

[T.S. Kerrigan]

I would think was good news, and should be viewed as such.