There’s a Kickstarter running at the moment for expansions to the rather splendid AuZtralia game. As I’m a fan of the core set, I’ve backed it myself, which means that I get all the usual campaign updates.
Last time they got everyone involved writing haiku. I did a few, but I’ve no idea where they’ve gone. This time it’s AuZtralia limericks they’re after. There are loads over on BGG, but just to be contrary and keep all my poetry in one place, I thought that I’d put my offerings here. In no particular order:
A frenzied old cultist called Fred
Once attempted to summon the dead
But his failure was dire
And it raised Cthulhu’s ire
So he made Fred a zed in their stead
Yes, yes, I know. Zombies aren’t a major part of the original Lovecraftian mythos, although they are the central part of Reanimator. However, they are included in later embellishments and in AuZtralia, so…
The next one is based on the rhyming and scan problem that most Old One names have. Yig is nice and easy to rhyme. He’s also a giant snake, of sorts.
There once was an Old One named Yig
Whose shape stopped him dancing a jig
But he’d slither and slide
And he’d boogie and glide
So his fan base was really quite big
And finally, a lullaby of sorts for those whose nightmares are inspired by too much unspeakable horror lurking in the shadows.
There once was an Old One who slept
In the blackness of undersea depths
And even in dreams
He can reach us it seems
So goodnight, little prince, and good rest
“Sweet prince” would scan better and be more true to Shakespeare.
An interesting thought. The reasons I did’t use sweet prince were twofold:
Firstly, I find little prince reads better. That may be a dialect or meter thing. I can read sweet prince so it fits, but it doesn’t feel natural to me and breaks the natural rhythm of the line when I try it.
Secondly, sweet prince is about death, and I didn’t want that resonance.
Plenty of the buggers. Feels like Nug and Yeb should be limerickable.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cthulhu_Mythos_deities