Poem: "A Few Words About Loki"

[ysabetwordsmith]

This poem came from the May 1, 2012 Poetry Fishbowl.  It was inspired by a prompt from kitrona about the Norse god Loki, who often gets unfairly slighted both in canonical mythology and in modern retellings.  I share her sympathy for him, so what I write about Loki often tends toward a cautionary tale.  If you want the straightforward definitions of the words below, most of them are in the Asatru Glossary.  The poem has been sponsored by marina_bonomi.

A Few Words About Loki

Áss (noun)
1. One of the group of Norse heathen gods called Æsir.
2. A person's hind end.  Synonym for 1.

draugr (noun)
A ghost, generally requiring the services
of Loki or his daughter Hel to banish.

edda (noun)
A collection of stories and poems about the gods,
often making fun of Loki and then demanding his help.

flyting (verb)
The consequences of insulting someone
whose grasp of invective greatly exceeds your own.

fóstbróðir (noun)
Sworn brother; the relationship between Odin and Loki,
which all are bound to respect but few others ever do.

galdr (noun)
Magic, spell, or incantation,
which Loki brought into the world and can take out of the world.

glíma (verb)
Wrestling, with a strict set of rules
which are dispensed whenever someone wants to pound Loki.

níð (noun)
Libel, defamation, calumny, or curse;
those fond words with which the Æsir greet Loki.

ørlög (noun)
"That which is laid on" -- fate, destiny, or wyrd --
which only a Trickster may bend, and not even he may break.

Ragnarök (noun)
A practical demonstration of what happens
when most of a pantheon manages to alienate its Trickster.