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The Poetry of Coronation Street

© Greg Wadden

Spring is here (at least in the Northern Hemisphere) and every Corrie fan's mind has turned to thoughts of... poetry? Yes, poetry. So, what better time is there than now to run a Coronation Street Poetry Contest? None!

So get writing. Our contest starts today and closes on July 1, 2000. You can enter as often as you like, the more the better. The first prize winner will get a big, beautiful (and expensive) coffee table book filled with pictures of the loveliest villages of England. As well, the best 4 or 5 poems submitted will be published right here. Think of the fame and adulation you'll get.

To find out more information and to learn about how to enter, visit the Contest Page. But, before you do that, keep reading. I've found some great Coronation Street poetry that I hope will inspire you.

First of all, I came across a very funny little poem by Pam Ayres called "In Fear of the Butcher". While it isn't strictly about Coronation Street, it immediately reminded me of Fred Elliot, so I thought I'd call it to your attention. Can't you just picture him there behind the counter all cheerful and menacing? I can! (I was going to mention an Ode to Spider Nugent, done in the same style, more or less, by the very talented Glenda Young, but it seems to have disappeared, alas, which seems to happen all too frequently to things I like on the web.)

Now, some people look down on limericks, but I don't, especially if they're well done. Well here's a terrific set of Corrie limericks written by my near-neighbor, Libby Seekings. I'll print one here to give you a taste:

There is an old butcher called Fred,
Who tries to get ladies to bed.
With sweet talk he woos,
And plies them with booze,
But they prefer sausage instead.

Make sure that you read all of them though, there's twenty altogether.

A couple of years ago, we had a sort of a poetry contest at a Coronation Street fan gathering and two of the entries are now on the web, I think both are charming. The first one is called "Cobblestones", and it's actually a song, done to the tune of The Beverly Hillbillies. The other is called "'Twas the Friday Before Christmas" by Peter Coleman and it's all about Christmas and the regular Friday Corrie chatroom trivia quiz.

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