Poem: "City of Angels"

[ysabetwordsmith]

This poem is from the December 3, 2013 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from chanter_greenie and primeideal. It also fills the "flirting" square of my 10-6-13 card for the origfic_bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by janetmiles. It belongs to the series Fledgling Grace.


"City of Angels"


Los Angeles became a draw
early in the Fledging
for people who sprouted
the wings and tails of angels.

It helped them find others
like themselves, so that
nobody had to be alone.

At first they thought
all the doves were white,
but then others arrived --

South Americans with
the plumage of eared doves,
their tan wings spotted black
and long tails tipped with cinnamon

Europeans marked like
the Eurasian collared dove,
pinkish gray wings with
blue-gray underwing patches,
gray-buff tails with white ends

Africans akin to laughing doves,
pinkish-buff feathers patched
with blue-gray bands on their wings
and the bases of their tails --

all flocking together now,
soft colors like wildflowers
down the same hillside.

The young singles flirted,
cooing over each other's plumage,
wrapping their wings around each other,
and kissing under the trees in the parks.

They discovered, too,
that it wasn't just a matter of faith --
many of the dove-feathered ones
made excellent parents,
the men as devoted as the women.

It made them very popular
among those of different feathers,
but the dove folk seemed to prefer
partners of similar interests
if not always the same shade.

In the parks, the mourning doves
went on feeding their chicks,
two by two, just as they always had.

* * *

Notes:

Los Angeles is named after angels.

Columbidae includes the Eared Dove, Eurasian Collared Dove, Laughing Dove, and Mourning Dove.

Comments

[stardreamer]

I particularly like the last verse here. Change -- even a big change -- doesn't mean that everything changes. There are a lot of people around who haven't figured that out yet. Life goes on.

[chanter1944]

I've always liked this one. Glad it got sponsored! I ended up doing a little research in the wake of it when I first saw it backchannel, because I got curious about doves from regions not mentioned. Now I'm imagining people fledging with the wings Mexican ground doves, Caribbean doves rarely, multiple bleeding heart doves from the Philippines, Eurasian turtle doves from parts of Asia (China/the Koreas/Myanmar), and possibly laughing doves showing up in the African American community? This is all just my own musing, but what do you think?

Yes...

[ysabetwordsmith]

Those sound plausible to me.

New universe

[dialecticdreamer]

--to read over the next few days!

Honestly, this is a great introduction! I don't know anything about "wingfic" except it's usually an excuse to "out" characters for whatever reason the author wants (usually slash pairings or soul mates).

Yours is the first /interesting/ wingfic I have found.

Re: New universe

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> --to read over the next few days! <<

Yay!

>> Honestly, this is a great introduction! <<

I hadn't thought about that, but yeah, I guess this does make a good anchor poem. The first one written was "The Wingdresser's Kitchen" which by now is in the middle of the series.

>> I don't know anything about "wingfic" except it's usually an excuse to "out" characters for whatever reason the author wants (usually slash pairings or soul mates). <<

I've read a variety of stories about winged characters. Outing is one common theme. But this is also a source of nonsexual intimacy in the form of grooming. Another whole batch is really about flying and freedom.

Fledgling Grace is about making the hidden manifest, but it's not all the same thing. Some wing types correlate with ethnicity, some with sex/gender orientation, some with morality, and so forth. It's very complicated, and nobody knows why God did it.

>> Yours is the first /interesting/ wingfic I have found. <<

Yay! I think you might enjoy this. Some of it is heavy-duty interpersonal stuff. Some is nonsexual intimacy. A lot is political or spiritual introspection. Some is cultural. Several pieces examine how the changes are affecting people's lives and businesses beyond the obvious -- there's one about clothing, for instance. Most of it is moderate to upbeat but the dark pieces in this series are REALLY dark, so keep an eye on the warnings.

By the way, another person I know who is good at handling winged characters is haikujaguar / M.C.A. Hogarth. She doesn't have a lot of them, but I've read several of her stories where wings were important, and they're consistently good. Several of the Pelted races have wings, variously functional or not -- in fact the Glaseahn have bat wings on their lower shoulders and their ears are feathered.