Round Robin

Hello Poetry Lovers

Now, hands up who has been the recipient of the Round Robin email/letter! Or even wrote one themselves!

Despite treating them with disdain, I’ve always had an urge to compose one myself – possibly a spoof one. So proud of Son’s first ASBO, my sentence non-custodial, that sort of thing.

Sophie Hannah, the marvellous and prolific writer and poet, has written a corker piece on this subject. From her collection Pessimism for Beginners, this is Round Robin . Read on, it’s fabulous.

Round Robin

Dear Distant Friends,

Surprisingly we’ve still got your addresses,

So here’s a list of all our latest triumphs and successes.

This year we’ve been as busy as a family of beavers

(Though they’re just furry animals, while we are high achievers).

We’ve bought a big new house (my wife corrects me – it’s a mansion).

Emily’s verses won a prize for prosody and scansion.

Timothy got his partnership and Claire her PhD

Which all reflects extremely well on Dorothy and me.

Our trips abroad (for which we didn’t even have to save)

Prove that we’re cosmopolitan, cultured and fit, and brave:

Kilimanjaro, Venice, San Francisco and Belize.

(Sorry if you can only dream of holidays like these!)

We’re thinking of you, humble friends, in terrace/semi/hovel.

We’ll be in touch this time next year, but only if you grovel

And say you wish that you were us so much it makes you sick.

Happy New Year to all of you!

Love, Dorothy and Mick

Isn’t it marvellous?! (Appreciate its the wrong time of year). I think we should all get writing one, so jump on that typewriter now!

Thanks for tuning in, PL’s. We’ll be back with more poetry action real soon…