Poem: "Anahata"
Feb. 17th, 2015 12:28 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithThis poem came out of the February 2015 Crowdfunding Creative Jam. It was inspired by a prompt from anke. It also fills the "Sweat / Yoga Pants" square in my 1-31-15 card for the Valentine's Day Bingo Fest. This poem belongs to the series Love Is For Children which includes "Love Is for Children," "Hairpins," "Blended," "Am I Not," "Eggshells," "Dolls and Guys,""Saudades," "Querencia," "Turnabout Is Fair Play," "Touching Moments," "Splash," "Coming Around," "Birthday Girl," "No Winter Lasts Forever," "Hide and Seek," "Kernel Error," "Happy Hour," "Green Eggs and Hulk,""kintsukuroi," "Little and Broken, but Still Good," "Up the Water Spout," "The Life of the Dead," and "If They Could Just Stay Little..."
Fandom: The Avengers
Characters: Betty Ross, Bruce Banner, Hulk, Pepper, Steve Rogers
Medium: Poetry
Warnings: None. This is fluff!
Summary: Betty really enjoys watching Bruce do yoga, especially in clingy yoga pants.
Notes: Family of choice. Team as family. Healing. Friendship. Love. Romance. Nonsexual intimacy. (There is no actual sex, but the pairing is Bruce/Betty! There is mild innuendo.) Trust. Safety and security. Respect for boundaries. Taking physical pleasure in healthy bodies. Yoga. Moving meditation.
A note on feedback: While it's not necessary to comment on every post I make, remember that I don't know who reads/likes things if nobody says anything. Particularly on long stories, I've discovered that I get antsy if there's nothing but crickets chirping for several posts. So it helps to give me feedback at least once, even if it's just "I like this" or "This one doesn't grab me." First and last episodes are ideal if you rarely feel inspired to comment in the middle.
Anonymous commenters: You don't have to specify exactly who you are, but it helps to have a first name or a username from some other service, so I have some idea of who's saying which and how many different "Anonymous" folks there are. You can just type some kind of identifier at the end of your comment.
(Also the perk story "Brotherlove, Brotherlust" is still open for audience activity to reveal new material; see Part 1 and Part 2.)
Next up will be the story "Coming in from the Cold: Saturday: Building Towers."
"Anahata"
Betty loves watching Bruce do yoga.
She loves watching him fold himself
into the supple poses, his body
so much stronger and suppler
than most people realize.
She loves feeling his heart open,
anahata glowing as vividly green as gamma,
although that's a comparison that Betty
never mentions to Bruce.
She loves how his workout clothes
cling to his body, the stretchy knit
expanding and contracting as he moves,
like gas responding to temperature changes.
There's a pose for this, too,
anahatasana, the Melting Heart,
kneeling with chin to the floor
and arms extended forward.
When Bruce does it, his yoga pants
pull tight over his tush, showing off
muscles that almost nobody
notices he even has.
Betty also loves the bhujangasana,
the Cobra Pose, that pushes out his chest;
and the ustrasana, or Camel Pose,
that displays the soft little belly
he's building up now that he's
finally getting enough food
and some sense of safety.
Bruce twists through the trikonasana,
binding and unbinding the triangle,
fabric flowing around him as he moves.
Betty moves beside him,
and they shift from solo mode
into partner yoga.
They climb the Triple Hill,
gazing into each other's eyes.
Betty glimpses Hulk in there
and smiles at him; he smiles back,
Hulk's big sloppy grin on
Bruce's small pink face.
The Forward Bend Lounge
drapes Betty over Bruce's back,
flowing over him like water over stone.
In the Flying Bow, she bends
backward over his raised feet instead,
and dreams of what it would be like
for Hulk to send her flying over a nice lake,
but she knows that Hulk won't
until Bruce is ready.
They finish in the Seated Forward Bend,
bowing to each other over their extended legs,
soles of the feet touching and forearms clasping,
their breath coming in unison like a fine line
of connection between them.
Even when they're not in pose,
Betty loves seeing Bruce in yoga pants,
wandering around Avengers Tower
clad in soft, stretchy cloth
that hugs his body.
The yoga dress pants are a delight,
comfortable enough to wear at home,
serious enough to pass at the office.
Betty is a fan of anything that helps Bruce
to fret less over the meetings he needs to attend,
and darling Pepper has approved them
after earlier complaints about
the holes in his jeans.
And if Captain America occasionally trots past
waving his fine fanny like a flag,
well, that's just gravy.
* * *
Notes:
The Heart Chakra relates to love. Know how to balance it.
Yoga Pants come in regular and dress styles now.
Anahata refers both to the heart chakra and the Heart Melting yoga pose, sometimes also called anahatasana. There are multiple poses for opening this chakra. They include the Cobra Pose, Camel Pose, and Triangle Pose. You can also find poses for friends or lovers.
For my asexual and/or aromantic friends, butts are important. Many heterosexual women admire a firm, shapely backside on men. For a discussion of what makes an attractive or unattractive butt, see this guide to Disney Prince butts. Captain America has a spectacular butt. Cap has a pretty spectacular everything! Betty believes that just because she's already ordered her entree doesn't prevent her from reading the menu. She just doesn't read out loud, because leching on someone can hurt feelings.
A note about slang: In the United States, "fanny" refers to buttocks. In Australia, it refers to vulva or vagina. In this story, Steve has the former but not the latter.
anke. It also fills the "Sweat / Yoga Pants" square in my 1-31-15 card for the Valentine's Day Bingo Fest. This poem belongs to the series Love Is For Children which includes "Love Is for Children," "Hairpins," "Blended," "Am I Not," "Eggshells," "Dolls and Guys,""Saudades," "Querencia," "Turnabout Is Fair Play," "Touching Moments," "Splash," "Coming Around," "Birthday Girl," "No Winter Lasts Forever," "Hide and Seek," "Kernel Error," "Happy Hour," "Green Eggs and Hulk,""kintsukuroi," "Little and Broken, but Still Good," "Up the Water Spout," "The Life of the Dead," and "If They Could Just Stay Little..."Fandom: The Avengers
Characters: Betty Ross, Bruce Banner, Hulk, Pepper, Steve Rogers
Medium: Poetry
Warnings: None. This is fluff!
Summary: Betty really enjoys watching Bruce do yoga, especially in clingy yoga pants.
Notes: Family of choice. Team as family. Healing. Friendship. Love. Romance. Nonsexual intimacy. (There is no actual sex, but the pairing is Bruce/Betty! There is mild innuendo.) Trust. Safety and security. Respect for boundaries. Taking physical pleasure in healthy bodies. Yoga. Moving meditation.
A note on feedback: While it's not necessary to comment on every post I make, remember that I don't know who reads/likes things if nobody says anything. Particularly on long stories, I've discovered that I get antsy if there's nothing but crickets chirping for several posts. So it helps to give me feedback at least once, even if it's just "I like this" or "This one doesn't grab me." First and last episodes are ideal if you rarely feel inspired to comment in the middle.
Anonymous commenters: You don't have to specify exactly who you are, but it helps to have a first name or a username from some other service, so I have some idea of who's saying which and how many different "Anonymous" folks there are. You can just type some kind of identifier at the end of your comment.
(Also the perk story "Brotherlove, Brotherlust" is still open for audience activity to reveal new material; see Part 1 and Part 2.)
Next up will be the story "Coming in from the Cold: Saturday: Building Towers."
"Anahata"
Betty loves watching Bruce do yoga.
She loves watching him fold himself
into the supple poses, his body
so much stronger and suppler
than most people realize.
She loves feeling his heart open,
anahata glowing as vividly green as gamma,
although that's a comparison that Betty
never mentions to Bruce.
She loves how his workout clothes
cling to his body, the stretchy knit
expanding and contracting as he moves,
like gas responding to temperature changes.
There's a pose for this, too,
anahatasana, the Melting Heart,
kneeling with chin to the floor
and arms extended forward.
When Bruce does it, his yoga pants
pull tight over his tush, showing off
muscles that almost nobody
notices he even has.
Betty also loves the bhujangasana,
the Cobra Pose, that pushes out his chest;
and the ustrasana, or Camel Pose,
that displays the soft little belly
he's building up now that he's
finally getting enough food
and some sense of safety.
Bruce twists through the trikonasana,
binding and unbinding the triangle,
fabric flowing around him as he moves.
Betty moves beside him,
and they shift from solo mode
into partner yoga.
They climb the Triple Hill,
gazing into each other's eyes.
Betty glimpses Hulk in there
and smiles at him; he smiles back,
Hulk's big sloppy grin on
Bruce's small pink face.
The Forward Bend Lounge
drapes Betty over Bruce's back,
flowing over him like water over stone.
In the Flying Bow, she bends
backward over his raised feet instead,
and dreams of what it would be like
for Hulk to send her flying over a nice lake,
but she knows that Hulk won't
until Bruce is ready.
They finish in the Seated Forward Bend,
bowing to each other over their extended legs,
soles of the feet touching and forearms clasping,
their breath coming in unison like a fine line
of connection between them.
Even when they're not in pose,
Betty loves seeing Bruce in yoga pants,
wandering around Avengers Tower
clad in soft, stretchy cloth
that hugs his body.
The yoga dress pants are a delight,
comfortable enough to wear at home,
serious enough to pass at the office.
Betty is a fan of anything that helps Bruce
to fret less over the meetings he needs to attend,
and darling Pepper has approved them
after earlier complaints about
the holes in his jeans.
And if Captain America occasionally trots past
waving his fine fanny like a flag,
well, that's just gravy.
* * *
Notes:
The Heart Chakra relates to love. Know how to balance it.
Yoga Pants come in regular and dress styles now.
Anahata refers both to the heart chakra and the Heart Melting yoga pose, sometimes also called anahatasana. There are multiple poses for opening this chakra. They include the Cobra Pose, Camel Pose, and Triangle Pose. You can also find poses for friends or lovers.
For my asexual and/or aromantic friends, butts are important. Many heterosexual women admire a firm, shapely backside on men. For a discussion of what makes an attractive or unattractive butt, see this guide to Disney Prince butts. Captain America has a spectacular butt. Cap has a pretty spectacular everything! Betty believes that just because she's already ordered her entree doesn't prevent her from reading the menu. She just doesn't read out loud, because leching on someone can hurt feelings.
A note about slang: In the United States, "fanny" refers to buttocks. In Australia, it refers to vulva or vagina. In this story, Steve has the former but not the latter.
(no subject)
Date: 2015-02-17 08:15 am (UTC)Fixed!
Date: 2015-02-17 08:22 am (UTC)DW has this pesky tendency of sticky links, where it pastes in a previous URL.
Re: Fixed!
Date: 2015-02-19 01:11 am (UTC)Re: Fixed!
Date: 2016-11-24 06:36 am (UTC)Light bulb! Manually typing in, or cut-from-titlebar, paste-between-href-quotes, is *always* my default for links. It's only in the past couple of weeks that I've learned to use the "hyperlink" function in Word. Heh... Stone knives very sharp, and bearskins waterproof and warm!
(no subject)
Date: 2015-02-17 11:51 am (UTC)WONDERFUL
Date: 2015-02-17 03:10 pm (UTC)Oh, and thank you for the link to "Disney butts"-- VERY helpful.
Re: WONDERFUL
Date: 2015-02-17 07:03 pm (UTC)Thank you!
>>Oh, and thank you for the link to "Disney butts"-- VERY helpful.<<
Glad I could help. It's really a wonderful guide to ass-ets.
(no subject)
Date: 2015-02-17 04:49 pm (UTC)I'm delighted to see some more Love Is For Children.
Thank you!
Date: 2015-02-17 06:54 pm (UTC)Wonderful things
Date: 2015-02-17 07:32 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-02-18 01:28 am (UTC)~A
(no subject)
Date: 2015-02-18 02:12 am (UTC)As far as Cap goes, there is so much numminess on that team, it's unreal.
Thank you!
Date: 2015-02-18 02:23 am (UTC)Yay!
>> It's so good to see an established couple attracted to each other, instead of hating each other. <<
That's exactly what I was aiming for.
>> That's one of the things I hate about sitcoms and rom-coms. Everyone hating on each other. <<
Yes. I find that as the world gets more fractious and society more divisive, I am far less patient with 'entertainment' where the characters squabble and undercut each other all the time. I want to see healthy family dynamics and a team that gets along, with people ironing out their occasional disputes like grownups.
>> As far as Cap goes, there is so much numminess on that team, it's unreal. <<
:D I have to admit, writing this story has made me want fanart of all the Avenger fannies in yoga pants.
And Clint leaning over a washtub, still trying to dye his purple.
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2015-02-18 04:01 am (UTC)Agree.
:D
(no subject)
Date: 2015-02-18 03:17 am (UTC)Yoga pants probably wouldn't work for me. Well, ok, they might very well work, if I could bring myself to (a) go shopping for them, and (b) wear them. Neither of which is likely. It took me weeks to work up to wearing a non-black shirt to work.
Yay!
Date: 2015-02-18 04:56 am (UTC)I'm happy to hear that.
>> Yoga pants probably wouldn't work for me. Well, ok, they might very well work, if I could bring myself to (a) go shopping for them, and (b) wear them. Neither of which is likely. It took me weeks to work up to wearing a non-black shirt to work. <<
Eh, do what works for you. Steve may wear his inside the tower, but probably not outside. He's still more comfortable in classic trousers and a button-up shirt.
Idiom Issues
Date: 2015-02-20 10:39 am (UTC)Re: Idiom Issues
Date: 2015-05-04 02:25 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-02-21 03:34 am (UTC)Yes...
Date: 2015-02-21 09:58 am (UTC)This would be more useful if I could talk to women in a romantic context, but 19 times out of 20 my inner guy goes mute.
Re: Yes...
Date: 2015-02-22 12:37 am (UTC)I've occasionally wondered what our lives would have been like had it been acceptable to be openly gay and marry 30 years ago. Certainly very different....
storylistener
Date: 2015-03-06 06:08 am (UTC)Re: storylistener
Date: 2015-03-06 06:24 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-06-01 05:20 pm (UTC)~Anony-mouse
Thank you!
Date: 2015-06-02 02:03 am (UTC)Yay!
>> (and just to throw in my opinion - I like both the poems and the prose in this and all your work. <<
In this series, the overwhelming preference among the audience is for fiction. In my other work, it's the opposite! I do have some fans who love both, though. So it's useful to track.
>> Indeed, you're the only person whose poetry I enjoy reading, rather than putting up with the medium because I like the content). <<
I'm always flattered when people say that, and I get a lot of it. I think it's because I write mostly narrative poetry that is meant to be comprehensible, and I come from a very classic background. I am just not into that ivory-tower crap that is as popular as poetry usually gets today. Instead, I look for things that people already like and write poetry about them. Nature. Dragons. Spaceships. Superheroes. It's a lot of fun.
If you haven't already found it, I have a lot of my poetry linked on the Serial Poetry page, and Polychrome Heroics is my original superhero stuff.
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2015-06-07 03:40 pm (UTC)I'm already an avid reader of several threads of Polychrome Heroics (especially Stan & Lawrence!) and also Frankenstein's Family, just on my LJ account. So, yes, I also read and adore your original stuff. ^_^
~Anony-Mouse
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2015-06-07 06:52 pm (UTC)