Yes, but tsuwm, you left out the really interesting bit:
This poem has a long and fabulous history. Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, in its original radioplay version, contained the sentence, "The very worst poetry of all perished along with its creator Paul Neil Milne Johnstone of Redbridge, Essex, England in the destruction of the planet Earth." Mr. Johnstone was and is a very real and (we're told) very awful poet, and the powers that be wished that Mr. Adams decline to include his disparaging reference to same in future incarnations of HHGG. Hence, the invention of Paula Nancy Millstone Jennings. Still, the poem featured above did not appear in any of the HHGG books. No, Ms. Jennings' poetry is one of those special treats reserved for those few brave souls who obsessively watch the BBC's televisionization of HGG over and over to notice the "good bits" some clever bastard snuck into the background.
I read Johnstone's poem and wished that I'd either been tied down first, or that I could listen to Vogon poetry instead. It has such a light touch and a lilting way with words by comparison. Johnstone's poem falls into the same category (only slightly less euphonious) than the:
Roses are red, violets are blue.
Dead cats stink, and so do you.
of my childhood name-calling days.
