Early this month, I headed out into the Stockholm archipelago aboard a 39 foot yacht with all my family. Stopping off on the uninhabited island of Ornö we invented a story (inspired by the copious animal droppings littering the ground) concerning a mysterious race of creatures who lived there but had never been seen by human eyes. As the holiday passed, these creatures were gradually embellished in our imaginations and every new feature (unhygienic, fishlike, hooked, lisping, backwardly ageing, amorous exhibitionists) was immortalised in the Limericks which are now published on this site. The surprisingly vast military presence in the archipelago inspired the doomsday scenario. We were later lucky enough to stumble upon the work of Derek Thompson which seemed to fit so many of our ideas so well that we couldn’t resist “borrowing” them. The work is full of family in-jokes, but we hope that some of them appeal to visitors and that you then visit Derek’s marvelous site.
To qualify for publication, each Limerick had to have either Yuq or Ornö in the rhyme (though one or two non-qualifiers sneaked in). It’s not easy, but Shucks and No Nudity provoked great amusement among my youngsters. Where do they learn this stuff?
Finally, my 12 year old son invented a ruse for surreptitiously distributing the “book” by slipping copies onto the shelves of bookstores and Miles Teves delicious art was raided for a suitable publisher’s logo. We hope he’s pleased by our attention!
