Michael Peter Ancher, Danish
The Taylors Have Rarely Been Seen in the Fields Since Getting Their New Craps Table, 1910
Oil on canvas
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Info, or links that point to more info, about this artist can be found here, here, here (can be read in full for free on Fridays), here, here, and here, perhaps in addition to what’s in his Wikipedia page.
/// Aksel and his wife couldn’t afford
a new fancy store-bought cutting board.
So, an old weathered plank,
(which, to be honest, stank)
was where each catch was “put to the sword.”
/// They rested the plank on a cask
filled with brine and some wine from a flask.
They pickled their herring
with timing unerring;
their daughter grew skilled at the task.
/// To the Danes, a cliché best forgotten
was the worn old phrase “something is rotten.”
But for catchers of fish,
if you don’t cook the dish
that same day, it’s a thing misbegotten.
/// Little Abby stood next to the “mark,”
looking innocent— really a shark.
When her Dad let her win,
then the fun would begin.
Fleecing fools was a walk in the park.
< OR>
/// Mark of Zorro was carved on the board:
A bold “Z” in the wood deeply scored.
But the little girl sees
it at ninety degrees:
Mark of ”Nielsen,” (the fox of the fjord).
< OR>
/// The “Monotony” game wasn’t fun.
At each roll, the die landed on one.
“Not a Chance” said each card,
buying houses was barred;
you were bankrupt before you’d begun.
< OR>
/// Little Freja insisted on cash
on the barrelhead, selling her stash
to these two fisherfolk
who had smoked themselves broke,
having gotten addicted to hash.