Can't write poetry to order? Then try the Twitter-verse
Updated on 30 January 2009
Wendy Cope, one the favourites to succeed Andrew Motion as poet laureate says you can't write poetry to order. Channel 4 News online put that theory to the test. On the Twitter-verse, of course.
Here are some of the best responses to our request for 'a poem to lift the spirits of the nation' sent to the micro-blogging site Twitter.
mothsailor: Many of us might think, Ms Cope; that verse is money for old rope. Not me, though. I say "Floriat, Laureate."
antagonise: All might seem lost, yet there is a world to be won, No more bust & boom, no more economic doom, Viva la people's revolution!
pimlico_flats: A poem to lift the spirits of a nation, A poem to be C4 Salvation, When it comes to our License Fee, C4 should be its destiny.
Think you can do better?
Then email your 120 character poems to news@channel4.com.
Or add to the Twitter-verse here. Remember to include an @channel4news on all tweets.
gallina: Its really easy to feel optimistic, positive and less needier, simply switch off the hyenas in the national media.
billythekid: This country obsesses, not with these recesses, that only depresses. Like men in dresses, this thing impresses, it's twitter!
supercoolkp: Sunshine, smiles and simple things can cause spirits to rise, but nothing gladdens quite as much as Jon Snow's socks and ties.
augustjordan: Let not flag your spirit of hope/ for such is not folly rather/ the fair wind bellowing/ the doggedness of Britons' renown.
karynromeis: Breathe easy, breathe deep. God is not asleep. The night will pass, the dawn will come. There must be night, and then the sun.
CogM: Silent ashes burn brittle husks of capital - then rising forth, heavenwards, the new Jerusalem aloft! Fiscal, rebirth.
saminus: Winter sun shines bright, but cools the air. All around me hats, scarves, gloves. Warm workers souls & fight-off cold despair.
supercoolkp: Money isn't everything; there's more to life I'm sure / Like kittens, family, summertime ... and news on Channel 4.
danworth: So, Wendy Cope, you do not think poetry, can be written, to order. Ironic, that you sound like, you, cannot cope. EJ Twit. 17.
KieraG23: Unemployed? Be the new TopGear Stig. I think this is a time when we should all dream big.
billythekid: Britain today has more bust than boom. No work for people it's all gloomy doom. At least we're not Iceland...
