Poetry collection

[corncobman]

Pg 531

"Hold This." Says The Finn, Taking It On The Chin

Only saying "Hold this!"
And suddenly shoving it.
The Swede of cleanliness
Gets a face of bloody bits.

Lalli saying no more,
Suddenly skull bestowed.
With a chin full of gore,
Emil's ready to explode.

Two skulls in scouring,
And bone cleaned the same.
Climb the tree towering
So the souls are reclaimed.

So can Mikkel ask the grumps
If he is going to come willing.
If he doesn't he'll get lumps
And be dragged, but don't tell him!

[corncobman]

Pg 532

Back To Civilisation Preferred, She'll Put In A Good Word

Mikkel says the opposite
Of what he's meant to be saying.
"Great, thanks." He gets it,
He wasn't planning on staying.

Let's head home, to Norway,
Says the leader of firebrands.
They'll all be hired in some way
As her left and right hands.

Sigrun will be character reference,
She'll get her dad to hire them.
Vouching for the adventurers,
Even the word and language-iffy men.

Is Sigrun so certain, so sure
If they have so many vacancies.
Don't worry about the particulars,
More people, more better, see?

Let's start moving, alright?
Back on the travels they go.
They'll sleep better tonight,
Once they're back on the roads.

[corncobman]

Page 533

Back To The Bird Nest, Now A Cleanliness Test

The gang make their way
Back to civilisation,
Back to the sentinel mage
At the checkpoint station.

Seagulls watching high,
By a bead adorned one led.
With imperious looking eyes,
It returns atop his head.

"Now let's make sure", he states,
"All of you are clean".
It flaps away from his pate,
For some kind of testing screen.

[corncobman]

Pg 534

Painful Peck, What The Heck?!?

The gull heads straight
For the mage felinesque.
Step, step, at a high rate,
Before it suddenly pecks!

Seriously, is he possessed?
"No no no! Not at all!"
It's a strange kind of test,
This painful pecking protocol...

[corncobman]

Pg 535

With Checks Like These, Who Needs Enemies?

The results of the test
Are not what you'd expect.
The outcome that's best
Is for you to get pecked!

If you do get it, you're clean.
Or else, you don't want that.
Regardless what this means
Is a headache like the cat.

"Who wants to be next?",
Asks the seagull sentinel,
To suffer the dreaded pecks
From the superior seagull...

[corncobman]

Pg 536

Headaches Assigned, Riding The Feline

Done with tests mind-altering.
Back to the scrapheap carport.
Along the bridge sauntering,
With the beard and bird escorts.

Gull on the cat's back,
Seeing stars are the crew.
Returning their knick-knacks,
They'll be on their way through.

[corncobman]

Pg 537

Hold The Line, When's Boat Leaving Time?

Safely anchoring,
With the bounding kitty.
Gleefully scampering
With the line is she.

At the marina to seek
Real civilisation.
Does the attendant speak
Human for conversation?

When is the next boat
Ride out of the country?
Let him consult his notes,
Understanding, "Let's see..."

------------------------------

Pg 538

No Setting Sail, No Getting Mail

After winter is
The next boat out
How inconsiderate,
Having to wait it out.

Summer hasn't even ended,
And the boat line is closed.
When nights get extended
More trolls activity goes.

A frustrated Sigrun roars
At the mention of stays.
She can't take much more
She rudely trudges away

Ignoring the mail,
She mutters 'good day'.
As she internally bewails,
Mikkel takes the letters away.

[corncobman]

Pg 539

No Stopping For A Letter. Bed, The Faster The Better!

A letter for the Swede,
From the Västerström kin.
But he doesn't want to read
The important words within.

He's been too delayed
For a private room and bed.
For this year long crusade
He could not rest his head.

"Just go read it yourself!"
No letter will make him stop.
Oh the pure bliss he felt,
On the bed he freely flopped.

From the tents on dirt and stone,
To a inn-slash-restaurant.
To be in the room alone,
Nothing else the cleanser wants.

[corncobman]

Pg 540

Time To Hibernate, Kitty Can Relate

While the others eat,
Emil, unattended, left.
Putting up his feet,
He's due a well-earned rest.

He's hoping it's a record,
For him to sleep for months.
Kitty's also on board,
To hit the hay at once.

Mikkel opens up the missive,
The rest are interested too.
Something seems amiss with
The news it brought to view.

[corncobman]

Pg 541

We Were Going To Norway, Stop By Sweden On Our Way?

They appear to have a job,
No details were specified.
But for any or all of the mob
This invitation supplied.

But they're going to Norway,
Sigrun quickly contends.
An expression of dismay,
But they should at least attend.

With a sandwich clutched,
The red-head asks "But why?"
Sigrun bemoans "It's such"
A boring country", she cries.

They should know what it entails
Before rejecting the job pitch.
She has the best argument to bail,
Norway over Sweden to ditch.

[corncobman]

Pg 542

Tiny Mountains In Sweden, Tall Or Small? None!

The mountains in Sweden
Are tiny, says Sigrun,
The ones in Norse nation
Are super tall - done!

Mikkel asks the rest of them
About their ranging input.
Mountains tall or medium?
What? Mountains? - His foot!

Using creative interpretation,
Both are of equal appeal.
Great! With that confirmation,
They agreed the matter is sealed.

[corncobman]

Pg 543

Merry Beary Munch, Berries By The Bunch

On a nearby prairie,
In rich nature's hush.
A bear munches berries,
In the meadow lush.

Situated lazy, ideally,
Savours the fruity taste.
Sauntering slowly, freely,
So far from hurry or haste.

----------------------------

Pg 544

One Skull Removed, One Bear In A Groove

A sniff and a yawn
Lazy bear stretch.
The tree leant on,
Scratching that itch.

Knocking off a skull,
In a symbolic sense.
From the display skeletal
It ambles away hence.

-------------------------

Pg 545

Get Into A Lodge, First Frost Bearly Dodged

It meanders and moseys,
Watch the leaves turn.
To find a burrow cosy
With a weather concern.

Digging out the dirt
From the short burrow
Safely does it insert
Ere the first fall of snow.

Hibernation entered,
Waking for nothing.
Like one Swede cleanser,
See you next spring...

[corncobman]

Pg 546

With Mother Bear Slumped, Little Paws Bump

Cosily curled,
Slumbering bear,
Deaf to the world,
Safe in the lair.

But inside the still
And quiet of the den,
Little noises spill
Every now and then.

Shuffling stirs
Under the giant form.
Amongst the brown fur,
Little paws storm.

------------------

Pg 547

Familiarity In Peculiarity

From another angle,
Into the cave we see.
Mother sleeps tranquil,
Along with cubbies three.

One that tends to flop,
While a timid, second hid.
A new descendent crop,
Familiarly spirited.

Spiky fur tufts pricked,
Silently chiding the duet.
The third stern and strict,
Completes the bear cub set.

[Groupoid]

Bear is sleeping under snow,
Fat and warm and safe and slow.
The moonlit forest all aglow.

By "Betty Adams" on Disqus, to p.546
slight edit by me (inserted "is" in the first verse) to fix the meter

[corncobman]

Pg 548

While The Bears Hide, Activity Outside

Against the mother snuggled
With the winter's cold.
So they remain untroubled,
In their burrow stronghold.

In their sleep ignorant,
Of the activity overhead.
While the bears lie dormant,
The birds will play instead.

--------------------------------

Pg 549

Swede Out And About, Kitty Can't Be Left Out

In the months of autumn,
We see the Swede awake.
With Onni playing cards some,
And Lalli lunch doth partake.

The pair of crime's partners,
On a calm stroll by the course.
And a kitty bescarfed there,
Ahead of the Dane and Norse.

----------------------------------

Pg 550

The Muscle Goes To Shovel For Snow

In a snow drift's aftermath,
A trio go a-knocking.
To clear their home's path,
With the shovels a-rocking.

An old lady's hair-curls
Answering the percussion.
Shovellers of the silent world
To clear the snow obstruction.

Opening the door, "Yes?"
The lady asking of them.
After a pause, the adventuress
Gives Lalli a little bump.