Dave Bonta's "Ice king" pictures an old man alone in freezing weather, and it manages to be bleak and wryly funny at once. The speaker has a "silver head," which suggests white hair or age, and "a stone in my mouth," an image that could mean silence, numbness, or words he can't get out. The things he lacks are plain and homely: no porridge, no pork, no one he loves. Cold and hunger run together, as if comfort has been stripped away.
Yet he isn't entirely empty-handed. He has "a hundred stories," which hints at a long life remembered and perhaps a storyteller's habit of mind. The last lines turn on a joke at his own expense. Calling himself "king for half an hour" mocks his own grandeur, since his kingdom is only ice and a brief moment. The mood is stark and lonely, but the humor keeps it from self-pity. He seems to accept his situation with a shrug and a small, rueful smile.