Cross one, you wish to speak?
Your fury makes me shake and creak.
Echo. Creak.
Cross one. Your heart has a desire?
Echo. Fire.
Cross one. Memory is old, so you provide?
Echo. Provide.
Cross one. Toys, meddling kids and dog?
Echo. Fog.
Cross one. Stealing wealth like spies?
Echo. Lies.
Cross one. Also owe you - loans and life?
Echo. My life.
Cross one. Bills green, those you want?
Echo. Want...
Cross one. Pay my dues, is that right?
Echo. Fight!
Cross one. Not on myself, please come back?
Echo. Smack!
Cross one. Time is precious, can you wait?
Echo. Hate!
Cross one. I have a plan in motion!
Echo. Motion!
Cross one. Your grip is strong, no hurt!
Echo. HURT!
Cross one...
Echo. Cross.
A/N: And by gentle, Carol ('Echo' as she is called here) means she's giving a harsh reminder to Stu (or 'Cross one' as he is referenced here). Lesson learned: if Carol tells you to pay your dues, then do it but time after time.
Continuing on the movement of posting the latest chapters in all of my Henry Stickmin stories in honor of the third anniversary of the final game in the Henry Stickmin Collection, Completing the Mission, I present the latest poem, with a focus on the 'Special BROvert Ops' ending with a glance into the tense conversation between Carol Cross and Stu Pendles on top of the Toppats' rocket.
This form of poetry is known as an echo verse. It's when repetition of the end of a line or stanza mimics an echo and can also present a change in the meaning of the word or part being repeated. Sometimes the word 'echo' would be included in before the next line to make the poem seem more musical or dramatic, but it's not necessary. Echo poetry was especially popular in England, France and Italy during the 16th and 17th centuries, and back then, it was mostly used to describe pastoral or dramatic scenes.
Going with this poetry device was interesting because I haven't heard of it until recently, and I was trying to look for something that could fit well with the exchange between the two Toppats. Carol is all about getting her money from this guy and she will persist until she gets it from him, so you could say that here, she's repeating her goal to him over and over until he either pays her... or he gets pummeled into next week.
The ending, however, differs from other echo poems because of how I leave it ambiguous and provide no real response from Stu to Carol. All I'll say is that she's extremely cross.
References:
-According to the Henry Stickmin wiki, Stu Pendles is supposedly based off a suspect named Stu Pendous from the show, A Pup Named Scooby-Doo. In that show, the man was furious at Carol Colossal, a businesswoman, because she was more successful in her line of work - a toy factory - than he was. Even though it's not quite the same in the Henry Stickmin universe with Carol as the enraged one instead of Stu (Pendous), I do like that nod to Scooby-Doo and wanted to throw in another nod to the show, as well as throw in a small story about what could have happened to make Carol so determined to get her money. So the line 'Toys, meddling kids and dog?' was born.
-This poem's structure was borrowed from writers who used this format, such as Mr. Jonathan Swift, as a training ground for writing this type of poem for the first time.
Enjoy! :)