Earlier this year, my good friend, fellow blogger, and north Minneapolis transplant Bryan Thao Worra put out a Facebook request for names of sea gods he could use in writing his new book of speculative Lao poetry. And Aquaman was already disqualified. Immediately I fired off a suggestion of Iku Turso, a Finnish sea monster sometimes called the Ox of Death, or "thousand-horned," but who is more often depicted as part man and either part octopus or walrus, and bears a striking resemblance to H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu. Iku Turso has been called the father of disease and the Finnish god of war and pestilence.
"And lutefisk?" I was asked.
"No. Lutefisk is Norwegian, and even a god of war, pestilence and disease has his limits."
Out of that exchange, the following poem was born...
