26 SEPTEMBER 1987, Page 57

No.1493: What'll Be the Title?

Under this title Justin Richardson once wrote a poem beginning:

0 to scuttle from the battle and to settle on an atoll far from brutal mortal neath a wattle portal . . .

and continuing, in lines of varying length and no set metre, to the last word, `Bootle'. You are invited to write a similar poem (maximum 12 lines) involving con- tinuous playful variation on like-sounding disyllables. Entries to 'Competition No. 1493' by 9 October.