Forgotten Ground Regained

Garlic - Allium sativum

A Riddle
A leek went to war. A weapon healed woes. A spear spouted fire.Lips cursed kissing.
Note from the Editor:
One of the ways that Old Norse poetry differs from other Germanic verse traditions is that it allows the poet to build stanzas using short, three-stress lines with internal alliteration.
Liz Kendall’s poem, “Garlic” does not echo any specific Old Norse form, but its three-stress lines illustrate how such lines worked. Three lifts: In Old Norse, that usually meant three matching dips, hence six or seven syllables (English seems to be quite willing to produce three-stress lines that only have four or five syllables). Two of the lifts alliterate.
Part of Forgotten Ground Regained: A Journal of Alliterative Verse, Issue 8, Fall, 2025: Norse and Icelandic Forms
Explanation
A leek went to war.
Gar is the Anglo-Saxon word for spear, leac means leek, and lic means like. So garlic is both spear-leek and spear-like, depending on the chain of etymology.
A weapon healed woes.
Garlic is a strong anti-viral, anti-bacterial weapon. Effective against respiratory illness, it also improves blood circulation and lowers cholesterol. Garlic is used in horticulture to prevent rot and repel slugs. Its mythical powers extend to warding off vampires and trolls.
A spear spouted fire.
Garlic’s sulphurous compounds are excreted on the breath for hours after eating. These compounds developed as the plant’s defence against animals. Eating parsley or an apple afterwards can help prevent garlic breath.
Lips cursed kissing.
See above.
Copyright © Liz Kendall, 2025
No part of this site may be used or reproduced in any manner for the purpose of training artificial intelligence technologies or systems