Poem: "The Fate of a Nation"
Dec. 2nd, 2014 05:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithThis is the freebie for today's fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from LJ user My_partner_doug. It also fills the "fate" square in my 9-1-14 card for the ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
ladiesbingo fest. This poem belongs to The Ocracies series.
"The Fate of a Nation"
It began not as a national convention on how to fix
what was wrong with the country of Narr,
but with six tipsy women in a tavern
playing Cuppa Trouble with dice
and drinking boiled water
because the beer had run out.
Again.
"I swear," Pyreen said as she
flipped her braid over her shoulder,
"we could do a better job
than the government is doing
just by throwing dice."
"And game rules make more sense
than the mess of laws made by
those fool politicians," Wadji agreed,
holding up her mug for a refill.
"Rule Number One: You must
read all the rules before you can play!"
Barenda declared, and the women cheered.
Tishaar fingered the edge of the dice cup.
"Skill should count for something," she said.
"If we chose our economists from the people
who made the highest scores, then at least
we'd have ones who understand numbers."
"But chance has its uses too," Karoli pointed out.
"That way nobody could complain about
getting singled out for the jobs everyone hates."
"Maybe we could have your past actions
influence your future chances," Pyreen said.
"It seems useful, but I'm not sure where to apply it."
"You need to roll at least 7 to buy another beer,"
said Chonda the tavernkeeper, as she
poked at the pair of six-sided dice.
"and the number of your previous beers
gets subtracted from the number you roll."
"We could, if we had any beer!"
Barenda said with a laugh.
"The tea is ready," Chonda offered.
Laughing even harder, the women
rolled their dice, and Chonda brought tea
to the ones who rolled 7 or better.
"Snake eyes helps sweep up at closing,"
Chonda said, pointing to Pyreen,
who nodded agreement.
It started as a gimmick,
just a little something to distinguish
In Her Cups from the other taverns in town,
but then someone suggested gaming
to determine who should run the market square --
and lo and behold, the merchants were better managed
so that people stopped running out of stuff all the time.
From there it spread, taking on rules
from more and different games
with which to decide the fate of a nation.
The ensuing coup was bloodless,
if you didn't count a few fistfights over side bets.
* * *
Notes:
nomocracy -- government based on legal system; rule of law
This seemed like the best available term for a government inspired by game rules. Gives a whole new meaning to the concept of "rules lawyer," doesn't it?
See the probabilities for rolling six-sided dice.
ladiesbingo fest. This poem belongs to The Ocracies series."The Fate of a Nation"
It began not as a national convention on how to fix
what was wrong with the country of Narr,
but with six tipsy women in a tavern
playing Cuppa Trouble with dice
and drinking boiled water
because the beer had run out.
Again.
"I swear," Pyreen said as she
flipped her braid over her shoulder,
"we could do a better job
than the government is doing
just by throwing dice."
"And game rules make more sense
than the mess of laws made by
those fool politicians," Wadji agreed,
holding up her mug for a refill.
"Rule Number One: You must
read all the rules before you can play!"
Barenda declared, and the women cheered.
Tishaar fingered the edge of the dice cup.
"Skill should count for something," she said.
"If we chose our economists from the people
who made the highest scores, then at least
we'd have ones who understand numbers."
"But chance has its uses too," Karoli pointed out.
"That way nobody could complain about
getting singled out for the jobs everyone hates."
"Maybe we could have your past actions
influence your future chances," Pyreen said.
"It seems useful, but I'm not sure where to apply it."
"You need to roll at least 7 to buy another beer,"
said Chonda the tavernkeeper, as she
poked at the pair of six-sided dice.
"and the number of your previous beers
gets subtracted from the number you roll."
"We could, if we had any beer!"
Barenda said with a laugh.
"The tea is ready," Chonda offered.
Laughing even harder, the women
rolled their dice, and Chonda brought tea
to the ones who rolled 7 or better.
"Snake eyes helps sweep up at closing,"
Chonda said, pointing to Pyreen,
who nodded agreement.
It started as a gimmick,
just a little something to distinguish
In Her Cups from the other taverns in town,
but then someone suggested gaming
to determine who should run the market square --
and lo and behold, the merchants were better managed
so that people stopped running out of stuff all the time.
From there it spread, taking on rules
from more and different games
with which to decide the fate of a nation.
The ensuing coup was bloodless,
if you didn't count a few fistfights over side bets.
* * *
Notes:
nomocracy -- government based on legal system; rule of law
This seemed like the best available term for a government inspired by game rules. Gives a whole new meaning to the concept of "rules lawyer," doesn't it?
See the probabilities for rolling six-sided dice.
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Rules lawyer
Date: 2014-12-03 12:16 am (UTC)Good poem, but...
Date: 2014-12-03 08:42 pm (UTC)It sounds a lot better than most of the governments here, though.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-12-06 11:35 pm (UTC)It would have the advantage of selecting people who are qualified, but who can't make a career of the position and mostly wouldn't want to. That would be a Good Thing.
Thoughts
Date: 2014-12-07 12:02 am (UTC)That makes sense.
>> It would have the advantage of selecting people who are qualified, but who can't make a career of the position and mostly wouldn't want to. That would be a Good Thing. <<
Exactly.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-12-03 04:23 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-12-03 04:36 am (UTC)Thank you!
Date: 2014-12-03 04:39 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-12-03 06:42 am (UTC)Geek puns aside, tho, this is a cool idea.
*laugh*
Date: 2014-12-03 06:43 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-12-03 12:27 pm (UTC)Yay!
Date: 2014-12-03 09:17 pm (UTC)People thought democracy was ludicrous when first proposed.