Poetry Monday :: Shelf

Poetry Monday is a challenge, normally hosted by Diane at On the Border. But from Monday, January 8, 2024, Messymimi and I have conspired to keep the chair warm for her, as she's taking a break due to health issues. We will each set the topics for one month, I began with January, Mimi supplied for February, and so on until Diane returns.

Today is Shelf.

The absolute only thing Shelf made me think of was Elf on a Shelf. Not really a thing I'm keen on, and singularly inappropriate for Easter Monday. So forgive me for fooling around and making a nonsense poem.

An elf on a shelf
Is not good for Easter
This says itself.

An egg in a shell
Is just right for Easter
Clear as a bell

But gifts from elfs
And baskets of eggs
Are for all that helps -
With hands and with legs -
To weed in my bed
And knead all the bread
For Easter means guests
And wonderful feasts!

Next Monday: Order


Because I saw at Mimi's blog that today is Anne McCaffrey's birthday I bring you two versions of the cover art of my favourite book in Chronicles of Pern - Dragonsong. Music, drama and dragons, can you improve on that? I think not.

Cover art from 1977

Cover art from the edition I read first - also the Danish edition looks the same.

We need more ...

Angels and leprechauns,
Blue cornflowers in ripe wheat fields,
Castle ruins coated in ivy,
Dragons of every colour and size,
Earthy gnomes, and Norwegian ones too,
Flowers in gardens for pleasure and bees, 
Greybeards hanging out in public places,
Half-timbered cottages with flowering hollyhocks,
Ice creams and soda-pops on hot summers' days,
Japanese haiku about cherry blossoms and fir trees,
Knights in shining armour,
Lakes covered in duckweeds, 
Mothers and fathers and children who play,
Notes from a piano drifting on the breeze,
Odes from a lover in the still of the night,
Primordial forests and white sunny beaches,
Queens with crowns on their heads as in fairytale,
Rainbows and thunderclouds and sunsets in red,
Snowballs flying overhead on wintry days,
Tables laden with cakes and good friends,
Unicorns and elven maidens,
Valorous people, defending what's right,  
Witches and wizards, Will-o'-the-wisps and even the Bog Woman.
Phoenixes, golden red, the creatures of dreams,
Yetis and Bigfoot and Nessies galore,
Zebras and horses running in herds.

The Bog Woman - Mosekonen - is an old hag-like figure from Danish folk lore.
Her green haired children are seen as tufts of long grass in the daytime.
And when the meadows and bogs are cowered in mists, it's her, brewing her brew.

Drager og drager -- Danish "Dragons"

En anden af Uglemors yndlingsting er tegneserier, især dem, der har et barnligt/naivt indhold og så alligevel ... Nemi er en af dem. Her er hun på gåtur med Cyan, hendes blåhårede veninde, og hun minder nok om Uglemor i drageforretningen.

One of MotherOwl's favourite comic strips is Nemi, written by the Norwegian Lise Myhre. Nemi is childish, a bit naïve, but also witty and sharp. She has a liking for adventure, Lord of the Rings, everything black, heavy metal, Alice Cooper, chocolate, (too much) beer, holidays, and last but not least Cyan her blue-haired friend. Here she ends up like MotherOwl in the dragon shop.

-Look! A dragon            -Where? Where!?? Where??            -Disappointed!

• Tegnet og skrevet af Lise Myhre.
• Drage in Danish means both "dragon" and "kite".

Drømmer jeg ... ? -- Am I dreaming ...?

     Uglemor fandt dette vidunderlige motiv på indkøb.

Shopping MotherOwl found this wonderful sign. She felt transported to the Commomwealth of Letters.

Due to theft, teh dragons are surveilled by video and chained.
If you want to buy a dragon, please ask inside the shop.