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Let's Enter the Great UK Poetry Lottery!
Do you play the lottery? (Ask yourself: are you poor and misguided? Then the answer is "yes"!) Well then why not play the poetry lottery? For £6, and a poem under 40 lines, you have the chance to win up to £5,000 from the UK Poetry Society. (Plus there are nine other returns on investment!) I mean, they're basically just going to pull a winner from a hat, right? So why not? Just write something that will impress Sinead Morrissey! PLEASE NOTE: "Coloured paper or other novel ways of presenting your poem will not benefit your entry."
Coloured paper? I was going to ink it with the blood of my enemies, on their flayed skins.
The Desperate Chancer (for the Poetry Lottery)
A paper ticket cracks and yellows with a misspent rage,
it clings to my soul like a wet bandage;
rotten flesh, a dying groan for five thousand pounds of it.
Silver dust scratches the desperate chancer for a gain,
again to wallow in the forced eviction,
suitcases packed with wet leaves, the sheriff's curbside burden.
Hands forced deep find the illimitable vacancies of pockets forlorn,
and we excuse the harrowing swales of contempt;
splintered, unwashed, mossy, exposed to a pile of sand unseen.
* Alternate award: For five pounds (and a pint) I will never compose a poem again!