Poem: "Fire the Town"
Jan. 6th, 2021 05:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithThis poem came out of the January 5, 2021 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from siliconshaman. It also fills the "Hope" square in my 1-3-21 card for the Fresh Starts Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by librarygeek. It belongs to the series Polychrome Heroics.
Warning: Salty language ahead.
"Fire the Town"
Whalers and wasters, best look to your rear
Way, hey, blow them all down!
I'm the worst pirate you ever should fear
Way, hey, fire the town!
Only one pirate is badder than me
Way, hey, blow them all down!
Gráinne Nuala, the Queen of the Sea
Way, hey, fire the town!
Stronger than steeleyes and older than dirt
Way, hey, blow them all down!
Stand against her, and you'll surely get hurt
Way, hey, fire the town!
She says the whole world is going to hell
Way, hey, blow them all down!
Listen, me lads, to the tales she can tell
Way, hey, fire the town!
Booze in the sewers and none in the bar
Way, hey, blow them all down!
Rain made of acid and snow full of tar
Way, hey, fire the town!
Some fucking crud ate a hole in the sky
Way, hey, blow them all down!
Sunburn and sorrow to make a man cry
Way, hey, fire the town!
Hurricanes stronger than ever before
Way, hey, blow them all down!
Worse than the storm that washed Jonah ashore
Way, hey, fire the town!
Fires that burn the whole damn summer long
Way, hey, blow them all down!
Driven by winds like a shantyman's song
Way, hey, fire the town!
We're the Black Shepherds who watch o'er the waves
Way, hey, blow them all down!
Them as despoil it, we send to their graves
Way, hey, fire the town!
Who do we follow, we fierce and we free?
Way, hey, blow them all down!
Gráinne Nuala, the Queen of the Sea
Way, hey, fire the town!
Older than Cain, but she ain't give up hope
Way, hey, blow them all down!
Haul away, boys now, and hold on that rope
Way, hey, fire the town!
* * *
Notes:
Gráinne Nuala -- She has fair skin, green eyes, and long wavy red hair. In Terramagne, Gráinne retired but did not die. She is immortal, and sometimes still goes to sea as a pirate or privateer. While she loves some things about modern life, many remain a mystery to her, and sometimes she struggles to fit in. So she looks for niches such as pirate faires where her quirks are easily overlooked. Gráinne has mastered the sea and its people, a long-time pirate queen whose keen mind handles both tactics and strategy. She enjoys word-cracking and other pastimes. Gráinne has used many aliases over the years. Sometimes she dresses as an old woman, Granny Newell. She bore Kenzie's ancestor as "Gwen Nolan." She visits the Planned Parenthood clinic as "Ginnie Maile."
Origin: When the Tudor conquest of Ireland caused trouble, Gráinne slept in the court tomb on Clare Island, pledging herself to her ancestors if they would give her the power to protect her clan. They offered her that power -- but at the price of becoming a living ancestor, doomed to outlive all her kin. She accepted anyway, and became immortal.
Uniform: Gráinne can dress to blend into a variety of places, but left to her own devices, she favors clothing from her own time period. That includes traditional Irish clothes and pirate garb. However, she also enjoys cross-dressing, so she often appears in breeches instead of skirts.
Qualities: Master (+6) Pirate Queen, Master (+6) Courage, Expert (+4) Languages, Expert (+4) Intelligence, Expert (+4) Tough, Good (+2) Charisma, Good (+2) Irish History, Good (+2) Lover, Good (+2) Scrimshaw, Good (+2) Word-cracking
Poor (-2) Fitting in with Modern Life
Powers: Average (0) Immortality, Average (0) Minions: Connemara, Average (0) Regeneration
Her minions have gone through various names over the years, including Salty Dogs, Corvairs, and Red Washers. Currently they are the Connemara, derived from cwn na mhara, hounds of the sea.
Motivation: To protect Ireland.
Nolan is an Anglicized form of Irish Ó Nualláin meaning "descendant of Nuallán".
Macnamara means "son of the hound of the sea."
"Actually the family was earliest known as Clann Caisin - and later as Clann Cuilean, ('clan of the holly tree', in remembrance of its assimilation of the remnants of the Fir Bolgs who held the holly in the same awe as did the Druids the oak.) It was not until the 12th century that the evolution to MacNamara began - first as MacCumara (son of the hound of the sea), then as Mac Conmara and Mac con na Mara ('con' being the genitive of 'cu'), and finally, at least among the chiefs and tanists, as Mac Namara. The area of Galway known as Connemara has no relationship to the clan as it designates the lands of those descendants of Conor who settled by the sea as opposed to the progeny of Queen Maeve and those who occupied lands in what is now eastern Galway. As late as the 19th century however, some members of the clan, notably the Gaelic poet Donnchadh Ruadh, adopted the Mac Conmara style as do a handful of Celtic revivalists to this day."
-- McNamara
“My name is McNamara, in Irish it’s Mac Connemara. It means son of the hound of the sea. So in other words, a pirate, which is what everyone in my family was in the 1500s.”
-- "A Chat with a Man Who Knows All About Irish Whiskey"
cwn, the old oblique caseform of ci "hound, dog" (from Common Brittonic nominative singular *cū, oblique *cun-). As "hound" was sometimes used as a kenning for a warrior in early Welsh poetry, the name may also be translated as "Princely Warrior".[2]
-- Maelgwyn Gwynedd
In Welsh mythology and folklore, Cŵn Annwn (Welsh pronunciation: [kuːn ˈanʊn], "hounds of Annwn") were the spectral hounds of Annwn, the otherworld of Welsh myth.
-- Cŵn Annwn
Coovara (coo VAR a) hound of the sea (Cú Mhara)
-- Irish Dog Names
Muirchu: The Sea Hound
"The story of Gráinne Ni Mháille or Granuaile (Anglicized as Grace O'Malley, Grany Malley) reads like the most brazen and unlikely sort of adventure fiction, but there's history as well as myth in the legend of the Irish noblewoman who led a band of 200 sea-raiders from the coast of Galway in the sixteenth century. Twice widowed, twice imprisoned, fighting her enemies both Irish and English for her rights, condemned for piracy, and finally pardoned in London by Queen Elizabeth herself, Gráinne was one of the few sea-raiders to retire from the sea and die in her own bed, though where she's buried remains a mystery."
Nuala is an Irish female given name, derived from Irish mythology - being either a diminutive form of Fionnuala ("fair shoulder"), the daughter of Lir, or an alternate name for Úna (perhaps meaning "lamb"), wife of Finvarra, king of the fairies.
-- Nuala
The Court Tomb on Clare Island is one of its more famous archaeological sites.
Note that in the photo, Gráinne is wearing men's clothes, something she has always enjoyed doing, although sometimes she wears women's clothes instead. The heavy rings on both hands serve as a discreet form of brass knuckles. The pistol is also quite real and she excels in its use. People just think that these things are all props because she is at a pirate faire. To Gráinne, this is an opportunity to wear some of her real clothes without getting stared at.
* * *
A sea shanty is a work song, more focused on organizing effort than on musical performance. Many variations exist for different types of task. As a work song, this one features a one-two pull on the response lines, "hey-blow" and "hey-fire," in which sailors would pull with one hand and then the other. One of the refrains is a riff on the traditional "Blow the man down." Consider this an excerpt of a song that has been around for centuries and can last until the work and the rum run out.
In local-Earth, Sea Shepherd has been accused of piracy and victimized by piracy on various occasions. In Terramagne, they are just plain pirates willing to defend the ocean and their own interests with as much force as necessary. Their ethics are closer to privateers (although they are unchartered) or radical activists than blackguards, as they do not plunder for profit alone but in pursuit of a cause. They tend to have a lot heavier armament than here, sometimes zetetic, and are increasingly allied with the peoples of the sea.
Prohibition featured raids where people poured alcohol down the sewers, although that is not the only time when it happened.
Acid rain became a concern in the 1970s, although it was a problem long before then.
Ozone depletion in the 1980s caused an uproar, and eventually a ban in the worst chemicals contributing to it.
The Deepwater Horizon incident led to reports of contaminated precipitation.
Climate change is making hurricanes worse in various ways.
The story of Jonah features a storm and a whale or giant fish.
Climate change is also making wildfires worse in assorted ways.
siliconshaman. It also fills the "Hope" square in my 1-3-21 card for the Fresh Starts Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by librarygeek. It belongs to the series Polychrome Heroics.Warning: Salty language ahead.
"Fire the Town"
Whalers and wasters, best look to your rear
Way, hey, blow them all down!
I'm the worst pirate you ever should fear
Way, hey, fire the town!
Only one pirate is badder than me
Way, hey, blow them all down!
Gráinne Nuala, the Queen of the Sea
Way, hey, fire the town!
Stronger than steeleyes and older than dirt
Way, hey, blow them all down!
Stand against her, and you'll surely get hurt
Way, hey, fire the town!
She says the whole world is going to hell
Way, hey, blow them all down!
Listen, me lads, to the tales she can tell
Way, hey, fire the town!
Booze in the sewers and none in the bar
Way, hey, blow them all down!
Rain made of acid and snow full of tar
Way, hey, fire the town!
Some fucking crud ate a hole in the sky
Way, hey, blow them all down!
Sunburn and sorrow to make a man cry
Way, hey, fire the town!
Hurricanes stronger than ever before
Way, hey, blow them all down!
Worse than the storm that washed Jonah ashore
Way, hey, fire the town!
Fires that burn the whole damn summer long
Way, hey, blow them all down!
Driven by winds like a shantyman's song
Way, hey, fire the town!
We're the Black Shepherds who watch o'er the waves
Way, hey, blow them all down!
Them as despoil it, we send to their graves
Way, hey, fire the town!
Who do we follow, we fierce and we free?
Way, hey, blow them all down!
Gráinne Nuala, the Queen of the Sea
Way, hey, fire the town!
Older than Cain, but she ain't give up hope
Way, hey, blow them all down!
Haul away, boys now, and hold on that rope
Way, hey, fire the town!
* * *
Notes:
Gráinne Nuala -- She has fair skin, green eyes, and long wavy red hair. In Terramagne, Gráinne retired but did not die. She is immortal, and sometimes still goes to sea as a pirate or privateer. While she loves some things about modern life, many remain a mystery to her, and sometimes she struggles to fit in. So she looks for niches such as pirate faires where her quirks are easily overlooked. Gráinne has mastered the sea and its people, a long-time pirate queen whose keen mind handles both tactics and strategy. She enjoys word-cracking and other pastimes. Gráinne has used many aliases over the years. Sometimes she dresses as an old woman, Granny Newell. She bore Kenzie's ancestor as "Gwen Nolan." She visits the Planned Parenthood clinic as "Ginnie Maile."
Origin: When the Tudor conquest of Ireland caused trouble, Gráinne slept in the court tomb on Clare Island, pledging herself to her ancestors if they would give her the power to protect her clan. They offered her that power -- but at the price of becoming a living ancestor, doomed to outlive all her kin. She accepted anyway, and became immortal.
Uniform: Gráinne can dress to blend into a variety of places, but left to her own devices, she favors clothing from her own time period. That includes traditional Irish clothes and pirate garb. However, she also enjoys cross-dressing, so she often appears in breeches instead of skirts.
Qualities: Master (+6) Pirate Queen, Master (+6) Courage, Expert (+4) Languages, Expert (+4) Intelligence, Expert (+4) Tough, Good (+2) Charisma, Good (+2) Irish History, Good (+2) Lover, Good (+2) Scrimshaw, Good (+2) Word-cracking
Poor (-2) Fitting in with Modern Life
Powers: Average (0) Immortality, Average (0) Minions: Connemara, Average (0) Regeneration
Her minions have gone through various names over the years, including Salty Dogs, Corvairs, and Red Washers. Currently they are the Connemara, derived from cwn na mhara, hounds of the sea.
Motivation: To protect Ireland.
Nolan is an Anglicized form of Irish Ó Nualláin meaning "descendant of Nuallán".
Macnamara means "son of the hound of the sea."
"Actually the family was earliest known as Clann Caisin - and later as Clann Cuilean, ('clan of the holly tree', in remembrance of its assimilation of the remnants of the Fir Bolgs who held the holly in the same awe as did the Druids the oak.) It was not until the 12th century that the evolution to MacNamara began - first as MacCumara (son of the hound of the sea), then as Mac Conmara and Mac con na Mara ('con' being the genitive of 'cu'), and finally, at least among the chiefs and tanists, as Mac Namara. The area of Galway known as Connemara has no relationship to the clan as it designates the lands of those descendants of Conor who settled by the sea as opposed to the progeny of Queen Maeve and those who occupied lands in what is now eastern Galway. As late as the 19th century however, some members of the clan, notably the Gaelic poet Donnchadh Ruadh, adopted the Mac Conmara style as do a handful of Celtic revivalists to this day."
-- McNamara
“My name is McNamara, in Irish it’s Mac Connemara. It means son of the hound of the sea. So in other words, a pirate, which is what everyone in my family was in the 1500s.”
-- "A Chat with a Man Who Knows All About Irish Whiskey"
cwn, the old oblique caseform of ci "hound, dog" (from Common Brittonic nominative singular *cū, oblique *cun-). As "hound" was sometimes used as a kenning for a warrior in early Welsh poetry, the name may also be translated as "Princely Warrior".[2]
-- Maelgwyn Gwynedd
In Welsh mythology and folklore, Cŵn Annwn (Welsh pronunciation: [kuːn ˈanʊn], "hounds of Annwn") were the spectral hounds of Annwn, the otherworld of Welsh myth.
-- Cŵn Annwn
Coovara (coo VAR a) hound of the sea (Cú Mhara)
-- Irish Dog Names
Muirchu: The Sea Hound
"The story of Gráinne Ni Mháille or Granuaile (Anglicized as Grace O'Malley, Grany Malley) reads like the most brazen and unlikely sort of adventure fiction, but there's history as well as myth in the legend of the Irish noblewoman who led a band of 200 sea-raiders from the coast of Galway in the sixteenth century. Twice widowed, twice imprisoned, fighting her enemies both Irish and English for her rights, condemned for piracy, and finally pardoned in London by Queen Elizabeth herself, Gráinne was one of the few sea-raiders to retire from the sea and die in her own bed, though where she's buried remains a mystery."
Nuala is an Irish female given name, derived from Irish mythology - being either a diminutive form of Fionnuala ("fair shoulder"), the daughter of Lir, or an alternate name for Úna (perhaps meaning "lamb"), wife of Finvarra, king of the fairies.
-- Nuala
The Court Tomb on Clare Island is one of its more famous archaeological sites.
Note that in the photo, Gráinne is wearing men's clothes, something she has always enjoyed doing, although sometimes she wears women's clothes instead. The heavy rings on both hands serve as a discreet form of brass knuckles. The pistol is also quite real and she excels in its use. People just think that these things are all props because she is at a pirate faire. To Gráinne, this is an opportunity to wear some of her real clothes without getting stared at.
* * *
A sea shanty is a work song, more focused on organizing effort than on musical performance. Many variations exist for different types of task. As a work song, this one features a one-two pull on the response lines, "hey-blow" and "hey-fire," in which sailors would pull with one hand and then the other. One of the refrains is a riff on the traditional "Blow the man down." Consider this an excerpt of a song that has been around for centuries and can last until the work and the rum run out.
In local-Earth, Sea Shepherd has been accused of piracy and victimized by piracy on various occasions. In Terramagne, they are just plain pirates willing to defend the ocean and their own interests with as much force as necessary. Their ethics are closer to privateers (although they are unchartered) or radical activists than blackguards, as they do not plunder for profit alone but in pursuit of a cause. They tend to have a lot heavier armament than here, sometimes zetetic, and are increasingly allied with the peoples of the sea.
Prohibition featured raids where people poured alcohol down the sewers, although that is not the only time when it happened.
Acid rain became a concern in the 1970s, although it was a problem long before then.
Ozone depletion in the 1980s caused an uproar, and eventually a ban in the worst chemicals contributing to it.
The Deepwater Horizon incident led to reports of contaminated precipitation.
Climate change is making hurricanes worse in various ways.
The story of Jonah features a storm and a whale or giant fish.
Climate change is also making wildfires worse in assorted ways.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-01-07 02:04 am (UTC)>>She says the whole world is going to hell
Way, hey, blow them all down!
Listen, me lads, to the tales she can tell
Way, hey, fire the town!<<
Well ...
Date: 2021-01-07 02:18 am (UTC)Well, if anyone wants to set it to music, the rhythm of a shanty is pretty obvious -- the lifts are on the strongest stresses. Though honestly, you could probably find extant shanty music and just use these lyrics.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-01-07 04:51 am (UTC)Does Terramagne have people who have returned to or reinvented an oceanfaring lifestyle, as in this:
https://archiveofourown.org/works/11003556/chapters/24512787
(no subject)
Date: 2021-01-08 06:25 pm (UTC)