Poem: "The Wingdresser's Kitchen"
Sep. 16th, 2012 08:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithThis is the freebie for the September Crowdfunding Creative Jam. It was inspired by a prompt from jjhunter about how, if everyone had wings, there would be professional care for that. This reminded me of how political ethnic hair is, and the severe discrimination against African hair braiding services that still happens in some places. So I figured, if everyone turned up with feathers, the same kind of fracas would ensue ...
The Wingdresser's Kitchen
Sheba tucked her wings close
to duck down the dark alley.
It was this way to the wingdresser's,
slip in the back to the kitchen
and make sure nobody saw you.
That's on account of there were laws,
mostly aimed at keeping white folks happy,
so you couldn't legally work as a wingdresser, unless
you paid thousands of dollars for a cosmetology license,
which didn't anybody have in this 'hood
and the schooling was all aimed at white girls
with their pale pigeon-wings and dove-tails.
Cosmetology had got a lot stranger since the Fledging,
but it hadn't got any cheaper or the people any nicer.
So if you had the black-and-green wings of a Jardine's parrot
with orange sunspots blazing on the shoulders
because your ancestors were Ashanti who came from Ghana,
then you couldn't use cosmetics meant for pigeons,
and that sent you right to the wingdresser's back door.
Sheba closed the screen door carefully behind her
so it wouldn't bang and maybe attract attention.
The kitchen was crowded and full of conversation,
mostly other Ashanti descendants like Sheba herself
but there by the fridge was an Ethiopian woman
with the gray-green wings of a red-bellied parrot,
undersides showing peach when she fluttered.
The wingdresser was gentle and thorough, her brown hands
cleaning all the places that Sheba couldn't reach,
fluffing the plumage with a wide-toothed preening comb.
Then she polished the orange feathers with palm oil
and the green feathers with hemp oil -- which was illegal,
but then so was the whole business.
They talked through all of this, because that was
how people stayed connected in the 'hood,
so Sheba heard all about Queenie's new baby
and Mara's boyfriend proposing at the club.
She told about her new job waiting tables.
Then the talk rolled around to cosmetology
and how the NAACP had filed a lawsuit
for fraud, because the schools claimed to teach
how to take care of wings but only covered one kind,
and nobody should have to pay for lessons
that didn't have a thing to do with their job.
The kitchen was a bit too warm, but Sheba didn't care.
Her wings were clean and glossy again,
the primary quills dotted with gold paint.
There was chili cooking in a crockpot on the counter
and someone had brought cornbread to go with it
and someone else unwrapped a coconut cream pie.
The women crowded around the kitchen table to eat,
their colorful wings touching like a choir of angels,
and Sheba thought that maybe, even if
the NAACP won their case, it was better this way
and who needs a fancy wingdressing shop uptown anyhow.
jjhunter about how, if everyone had wings, there would be professional care for that. This reminded me of how political ethnic hair is, and the severe discrimination against African hair braiding services that still happens in some places. So I figured, if everyone turned up with feathers, the same kind of fracas would ensue ...The Wingdresser's Kitchen
Sheba tucked her wings close
to duck down the dark alley.
It was this way to the wingdresser's,
slip in the back to the kitchen
and make sure nobody saw you.
That's on account of there were laws,
mostly aimed at keeping white folks happy,
so you couldn't legally work as a wingdresser, unless
you paid thousands of dollars for a cosmetology license,
which didn't anybody have in this 'hood
and the schooling was all aimed at white girls
with their pale pigeon-wings and dove-tails.
Cosmetology had got a lot stranger since the Fledging,
but it hadn't got any cheaper or the people any nicer.
So if you had the black-and-green wings of a Jardine's parrot
with orange sunspots blazing on the shoulders
because your ancestors were Ashanti who came from Ghana,
then you couldn't use cosmetics meant for pigeons,
and that sent you right to the wingdresser's back door.
Sheba closed the screen door carefully behind her
so it wouldn't bang and maybe attract attention.
The kitchen was crowded and full of conversation,
mostly other Ashanti descendants like Sheba herself
but there by the fridge was an Ethiopian woman
with the gray-green wings of a red-bellied parrot,
undersides showing peach when she fluttered.
The wingdresser was gentle and thorough, her brown hands
cleaning all the places that Sheba couldn't reach,
fluffing the plumage with a wide-toothed preening comb.
Then she polished the orange feathers with palm oil
and the green feathers with hemp oil -- which was illegal,
but then so was the whole business.
They talked through all of this, because that was
how people stayed connected in the 'hood,
so Sheba heard all about Queenie's new baby
and Mara's boyfriend proposing at the club.
She told about her new job waiting tables.
Then the talk rolled around to cosmetology
and how the NAACP had filed a lawsuit
for fraud, because the schools claimed to teach
how to take care of wings but only covered one kind,
and nobody should have to pay for lessons
that didn't have a thing to do with their job.
The kitchen was a bit too warm, but Sheba didn't care.
Her wings were clean and glossy again,
the primary quills dotted with gold paint.
There was chili cooking in a crockpot on the counter
and someone had brought cornbread to go with it
and someone else unwrapped a coconut cream pie.
The women crowded around the kitchen table to eat,
their colorful wings touching like a choir of angels,
and Sheba thought that maybe, even if
the NAACP won their case, it was better this way
and who needs a fancy wingdressing shop uptown anyhow.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2012-09-17 02:16 am (UTC)Your poems are always good, but this one's a cut above the usual. Very, very nicely done.
Thank you!
Date: 2012-09-17 02:51 am (UTC)*bask, preen* I very frequently aim for that target in my urban fantasy and low fantasy. Grit and grace. It's like heating sand until it glows.
>> I would love love love to see an illustration for this <<
I would love that too. We need more art that shows women of color, there's too little of it. In fantasy it's even worse, almost all white people. Meh. When I wrote this, I was thinking about the super-saturated colors of African-American art and the stylized or soft-edged lines.
>>Your poems are always good, but this one's a cut above the usual. Very, very nicely done.<<
Aw, shucks.
[complete stranger comment]
Date: 2012-10-15 07:20 pm (UTC)Re: [complete stranger comment]
Date: 2012-10-15 07:57 pm (UTC)Squee! That would be wonderful.
>> How many women?<<
There's the protagonist Sheba, the wingdresser herself, an Ethiopian woman, Queenie, and Mara. That's five who need to be there. The kitchen is crowded but small; you could fit in one or two more women, but that's about it.
Species references for the two types of parrot are here:
Jardine's Parrot
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jardine%27s_Parrot
http://www.poicephalus.nl/images/soorten.htm/jardine/fantiensis-www.poicephalus.nl.jpg
Red-bellied Parrot
http://www.africanqueenaviaries.com/africanparrotsoverview.htm
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/Poicephalus_rufiventris_(Juvenile_male)_-stretching-8a.jpg
Re: [complete stranger comment]
Date: 2012-10-20 06:49 pm (UTC)Re: [complete stranger comment]
Date: 2012-10-20 07:28 pm (UTC)Squee! I'd love to see the sketch. This has been a very popular poem and I think folks would enjoy watching the art evolve.
>>(and fitting five in was hard, with that assuming magically-supported rather than naturally flight-capable wingspans!),<<
You know, I'm not sure if the humans can fly? If they can, they must be doing it with grace; you made the right guess regarding wingspan. They're big, but not big enough for aerodynamic flight.
>> probably going to be loosely watercoloured <<
That sounds lovely.
>> - I take it some gender-confused plumage is fine? <<
Yes, that's fine. Those species of parrot have low sexual dimorphism anyhow, if the articles and images I researched were accurate.
Re: [complete stranger comment]
Date: 2012-10-20 08:10 pm (UTC)From this poem alone it doesn't seem like they can, though with the addition of/skills gained in magic, it could probably be learnt...lift is a lot easier than power, actually, it's mostly the mammal bones that're the issue. I'll...just warn you now that starting me rambling on humanoid flight mechanics is not a good idea if you ever want me to stop... *hem*
Righto.
Re: [complete stranger comment]
Date: 2012-10-22 07:18 am (UTC)Whatever works. The sketch is beautiful! Thank you so much for sharing. By the way, I've reposted "The Wingdresser's Kitchen" over on
>> From this poem alone it doesn't seem like they can, <<
I suspect that's so ...
>> though with the addition of/skills gained in magic, it could probably be learnt...lift is a lot easier than power, actually, it's mostly the mammal bones that're the issue. <<
... but it may be possible for at least some people to learn. Based on what I know of this series now, it would be a faith-powered or spiritual effect more than physical. The wings do seem to have birdlike bones, and the feathers evidently have a hollow rachis like birds rather than solid as angels often do. I'm basing that on the fact that somebody broke a blood feather in another poem.
>> I'll...just warn you now that starting me rambling on humanoid flight mechanics is not a good idea if you ever want me to stop... *hem* <<
Nooooo problem. I love biology and xenobiology! The other day I was looking up hydrostatic skeletons for a poem about Tim the Tentacle Monster from my Schrodinger's Heroes series.
There are many different ways to address issues of flight. I've explored a fair number of them.
Re: [complete stranger comment]
Date: 2012-10-28 07:19 pm (UTC)Good to hear it, though I'm afraid I'll steer clear, being generally allergic to poetry.
Birdie wing bones don't mean a lot without the rest of the birdie flight adaptations, but they'll certainly be able to glide as they are, if they can get over the Matrix-like self-belief/first jump issue. [headtilt] Aren't angels...y'know, spirits? I'm afraid I'm not familiar with your canon, merely being recommended the poem as an 'even-you will like this' sort of way...what reason would there be for a solid rachis? [curious] Ouch! I hope they were able to save it.
Ha! Aye, well, I've been known to ramble somewhat. What kinds of fliers do you have?
(no subject)
Date: 2012-09-17 03:00 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-09-17 03:02 am (UTC)Well...
Date: 2012-09-17 03:15 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-09-17 03:02 am (UTC)You make the beautiful colored parrot wings sound so lovely. I love parrots, and I can really see them in my mind...
Thank you!
Date: 2012-09-17 03:20 am (UTC)That's always good to hear.
>> Wing care, and how minority groups are treated in society, are two things that I really always want to read about, so, them together is amazing. <<
Those are among my favorite motifs too, hence why I pounced on this prompt. Feel free to prompt this kind of stuff in my fishbowls.
Then of course I read a lot into the foundation -- the sensitivity and intimacy of wings, the way social bonding in oppressed groups always flows around the dominant power structure, the way all peoples have their own history. So I tend to look for ways of weaving those things together.
>>You make the beautiful colored parrot wings sound so lovely. I love parrots, and I can really see them in my mind...<<
I have a strong tendency to follow evolutionary lines in creating fantasy creatures. So a griffin will usually be a bird and a cat from a specific place. Winged people typically have wings that match a bird (or other winged creature) from their ethnic homeland. I've done parrot and macaw wings before, on angels, and when I'm writing desert fiction, peacock angels too. With the whole world to choose from, why stick with plain old white wings?
(no subject)
Date: 2012-09-17 03:39 am (UTC)You're welcome!
Date: 2012-09-17 06:55 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-09-17 05:24 am (UTC)Yes, please!
Date: 2012-09-17 05:36 am (UTC)Okay, I looked up that example, and found an excerpt. I am deeply flattered by your comparison. That's exactly the kind of background I use when I'm thinking of these things.
>> May I link to this? <<
Yes, please! I hope your readers enjoy it too.
Re: Yes, please!
Date: 2012-09-17 06:38 am (UTC)This is one of the very few things I buy in hardcover because I can't stand to wait for the paperback edition to come out. Here's the LibraryThing page for the series.
Re: Yes, please!
Date: 2012-09-17 06:54 am (UTC)Re: Yes, please!
Date: 2012-09-17 11:16 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-09-20 01:18 pm (UTC)I love the mixing of politics into the fantasy, it gives it a great sense of realism.
Thank you!
Date: 2012-09-21 01:37 am (UTC)It's something I do often. One of the poems from this week's fishbowl, "Dissonance and Consonance," deals with another current issue, budget cuts.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-09-25 07:20 pm (UTC)Thank you!
Date: 2012-09-26 03:44 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-09-17 01:41 am (UTC)I wish I could have dots of gold paint on *my* primaries!
Thank you!
Date: 2012-09-17 02:38 am (UTC)I'm happy to hear that.
>> I wish I could have dots of gold paint on *my* primaries! <<
Yeah, I'd do it too. If I'm wearing nail polish, it's most often silver or gold.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-10-15 08:37 am (UTC)Thank you!
Date: 2012-10-15 09:17 am (UTC)As it happens, I felt like this setting might have more going on in it. So there are three other poems there now, all earlier and dealing with different characters. Look under Fledgling Grace on my Serial Poetry page.
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2012-10-16 04:47 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-10-23 08:29 pm (UTC)Re-reading the last line, I can just imagine somebody like Aretha Franklin saying it, with an emphatic "Hmph!" at the end... :)
Thank you!
Date: 2012-10-24 04:46 am (UTC)That's the kind of thing I was aiming for, so the confirmation is very welcome.
>> Re-reading the last line, I can just imagine somebody like Aretha Franklin saying it, with an emphatic "Hmph!" at the end... :) <<
Yay! I'm happy to hear that.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-10-24 03:31 am (UTC)Winged Destiny
All the models
And the people of good breeding
And impeccably researched ancestry
Got pale pigeon wings in the Fledging,
And so those became the standard of beauty,
Appearing on the covers of magazines,
Carefully highlighted
In the pale pink
Of a French manicure.
They went well
With pale porcelain skin
And blue eyes,
But not everyone's ancestors
Came from England
Or France or the Low Countries.
Ashanti women from Ghana fledged
With wings of red and green,
As vivid as the colors of the fabrics their ancestors had worn,
And the Maya grew wings with Yucatan-brilliant plumage
That set off their brown skin and black eyes beautifully.
But however odd - and wings were very odd to humans -
The colors were still dictated by their genes,
The hidden heritage
Of parents and grandparents and their parents,
Mothers to sons and fathers to daughters,
Ancestry made manifest in feathers.
Which made sense, when you thought about it,
But created some surprises too
Greater even than the growth of wings.
The descendants of the warrior-bards of Eire
Turned out to have the blue-black wings
Of the Morrigan's ravens,
Which suited them perfectly
But looked wildly out of place
On a descendent of English earls,
And the wide grey gull-wings
Of Vikings and Saxons
Raised a few eyebrows
In a village in the Syrian Desert,
Where clearly,
Some far-wandering crusaders
Had left more than their fortresses and bones.
But it was worst
(Or perhaps best)
When the bright jungle wings
Of Africa
Appeared on the lily-white descendents
Of New Orleans debutantes
Or the scarlet epaulettes
That adorn the wings
Of the blackbirds
In American marshes,
And more recently the descendants
Of Tecumseh’s people,
Showed up among city-folk
Whose family stories
Included the cowboys
But never the Indians.
That was the problem.
What had been hidden
Beneath the skin
And in the common red
Of human blood
Was hidden no longer,
And you looked pretty foolish
When you'd spent your life
Talking about how "those people"
Should just get over
What your ancestors
Did to theirs
When your plumage carried the colors
Of homelands
A long way from Europe.
So blue jay-wings
Jostled against
Garden sparrow and starling,
And robin and red-tailed hawk
Passed Eurasian eagle owl
And pale brown Egyptian goose
On the street,
And really it was only the models
Who never did look like real people
And the noble scions
Of France and England
And the Low Countries
Who had the pale, perfect
Wings of pigeons.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-10-24 09:36 am (UTC)It seems there's been at least one camp found in France where wounded Mongol soldiers remained behind when the rest withdrew from Europe. They occasionally find white babies in this region which have the Mongol's dark sacral triangle on their bottoms so apparently they did leave children behind.
I enjoyed reading your poem!
I've told people tidbits of this stuff for years and most don't believe me!
:D
Poem
Date: 2012-10-28 11:00 pm (UTC)65 lines, Buy It Now = $32.50
Good reading! I enjoyed this!
Date: 2012-10-24 09:50 am (UTC)So what happens when you've got a "duke's mix" of ancestories?
Do your wings wind up a mix as well?
[If I were a person in this world, this would be what would happen to me since I've got French, German/Swiss, English/Scottish and who knows what else in my family tree. Still haven't managed to figure out if there's any American Indian in me yet but there are family rumors.]
I wonder how the Neandertal genes would show up in the wings?
:)
Re: Good reading! I enjoyed this!
Date: 2012-10-29 01:21 am (UTC)30 lines, Buy It Now = $15
Re: Good reading! I enjoyed this!
Date: 2012-10-29 09:36 am (UTC)That is sure one beautiful set of wings.
:)
Re: Good reading! I enjoyed this!
Date: 2012-10-30 07:20 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-02-20 06:39 pm (UTC)Thank you!
Date: 2014-02-20 07:06 pm (UTC)Yay! I'm glad you liked it.
>> People-with-wings is pretty much my favorite fantasy topic, and you've written such a beautiful and evocative scene with this. <<
This was the first poem written in what has become a pretty popular series, Fledgling Grace, so there is a LOT more available for you to enjoy. It touches on many different cultures and religions, and bird species from around the world.
You might also like A Conflagration of Dragons, in which several of the races have wings of various types.
>> I totally want to illustrate this scene at some point. It is just lovely. <<
I love fanart. If you decide to illustrate something of mine, you can tell me and I'll link to it from the series page so that folks can see it. If you look around my main Serial Poetry page and the subpages, you'll see some other places where people have illustrated things.
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2014-02-20 07:31 pm (UTC)I will definitely link the image to you if/when I get a chance to draw it. Usually I am quite busy with commissioned pieces, and I have a lot of personal projects that are also on my list, but it's such a wonderful image I will definitely try to paint it at some point.
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2014-02-20 09:54 pm (UTC)Thank you.
>> I will definitely link the image to you if/when I get a chance to draw it. <<
Yay! That would be awesome.
>> Usually I am quite busy with commissioned pieces, and I have a lot of personal projects that are also on my list, but it's such a wonderful image I will definitely try to paint it at some point. <<
Do you have an archive of your artwork online anywhere?
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2014-02-20 11:42 pm (UTC)Re: Thank you!
Date: 2014-02-21 01:38 am (UTC)Having seen what you can do with colorful birds, I am now all the more excited.
Feel free to drop back by my blog in May when Weirspace launches. I have gamers in my audience who might be interested, if you let me know when it's open.