NaNoWriMo Day Thirteen

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...write a poem that contains at least one kenning. Kennings were metaphorical phrases developed in Nordic sagas. At their simplest, they generally consist of two nouns joined together, which imaginatively describe or name a third thing. The phrase “whale road,” for example, could be used instead of “sea” or “ocean,” and “sky candle” could be used for “sun.” The kennings used in Nordic sagas eventually got so complex that you basically needed a decoder-ring to figure them out. And Vikings being Vikings, there tended to be an awful lot of kennings for swords, warriors, ships, and gold. But at their best, they are suprising and evocative.

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One of These Things is Like the Other
by Dot Hearn

The challenge is to write a poem
in which one thing stands in for another
So I can talk about cantaloupes
and call them flesh melons
or I can talk about freeways
and call them land dividers
or I could talk about lovers
and call them breath quickeners.

A kenning. That's the term.

The opportune game is to write a poem
in which a number of things stand for another
So I can talk about flesh melons
and call them loose skin melons
or I can talk about land dividers
and call them earth dirt dividers
or I could talk about breath quickeners
and call them air mover quickeners.

The opportune game is to quill scratch a poem
in which a number of random objects stand for not same
So I can gibber jab about flesh melons
and call them loose skin juicy orbs
or I can gibber jab about land dividers
and call them earth dirt cleaving asphalt
or I could gibber jab about breath quickeners
and call them air mover heart beats.


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