Entry from Ricard Kelly
A Valentine’s poetry competition for lovers of history
A poll will run from 4–12 February to choose the winner, who will be announced on Valentine’s Day.
Niccolò
We made your name a word for cunning men,
For poison smiles and vipers dressed in silk.
But you were just a man who loved Florence,
Who watched the powerful and wrote their ilk.
You wrote The Prince in weeks, a beggar’s gift
To men who’d ruined you. You hoped for work.
They never wrote you back. You died unknown,
A disappointed, out-of-fashion clerk.
Was it satire? Science? Mirror? Manual?
Five hundred years, we still can’t decide.
You’d like that, I suspect. You always knew
Politics is guessing, dressed in pride.
We did this to you. Turned you to a knife.
Read fast, read scared, and missed the human hand
That also wrote the love notes and the jokes,
The plays, the hopes that Florence still might stand.
You were not the darkness, Niccolò.
You struck a match and said: Look. This is how it goes.
And we have never forgiven you
For showing us what everybody knows.
To celebrate Valentine’s Day, we’re delighted to announce a brand new writing competition created especially for fans of Jodi Taylor.
This time, we’re inviting you to put pen to paper and compose a Valentine’s Day poem addressed to a famous person from history. The poem can be romantic, witty, heartfelt or mischievous, but it must include rhyming couplets. Submissions close on Saturday, 31st January, after which all entries will be published on Jodi's social media for readers to enjoy. The winner will be chosen through a public poll held between 1st and 13th February, and announced on 14th February. As a lasting keepsake, the winner will receive a beautifully framed copy of their poem.
CLICK HERE to submit your edited and formatted entry in Word document form.
Machiavelli! What a fascinating guy! And Catherine dei Medici, who turned out to be the principe, or principessa, for whom it was intended. Such tragedy in her life. Such tragedy she caused. What a guide to the internecine politics of Florence. I wonder what he would have made of our present world situation? What clever poems you have written.