Poem: "The Addams Family Reunion"
Dec. 1st, 2015 02:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithThis is the freebie for today's fishbowl, based on a backchannel prompt from technoshaman. It also fills the "crafty" square in my 12-1-15 card for the Defining Character Bingo fest, and the "soulmates" square in my 10-2-15 card for the ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
ladiesbingo fest.
"The Addams Family Reunion"
Wednesday Addams is crafty
in both senses of the word,
sly and creative.
She sews herself a dress
of black silk slit past her navel
and slinks on stiletto heels
made from recycled knives.
When the other young women
at college whisper behind their hands
or to her face, wondering why she
never wears anything but black,
Wednesday just smiles and says,
"I'm a dark femme. Not all
high femmes wear pink."
In the autumn, she walks through fog
between rows of streetlights like full moons
and imagines that she hears the song
of werewolves running in the woods
behind the campus.
But then one night,
it's not imagination anymore,
and that's how she meets December.
Where Wednesday is feminine,
December is masculine, small breasts
buttoned behind the white shirt and
pinstriped suitcoat of a soft butch.
Once a month, December turns into
a brindled wolf, and Wednesday
runs beside her dressed as Diana.
On cold, snowy evenings
they drink black cappuccino
and share dark chocolate tortes
in the campus coffeehouse,
go out for dinner and an opera,
and frighten the little siblings
of their classmates who visit.
They talk about Wednesday's career
as a decorator of funeral parlors --
already in demand -- and December's
as a lawyer, interning at her uncle's firm.
They talk about how many children they want --
at least two, a boy and a girl -- and where
they might find a witch because clearly
they're going to need some help
to get Wednesday pregnant.
They meet each other's families,
which is nerve-wracking but also
secretly exciting to meet so many
new and interesting people.
Wednesday isn't surprised when
the tiny red heart blossoms at
the base of her left ring finger.
She remembers getting "the Talk"
from her mother at twelve, about how
everyone's heart has its own wavelength,
like a radio channel, and the soulmark
appears to tell you when you're falling
for someone who is on your wavelength
and will make a good husband.
She remembers thinking, silently,
But Mother, I don't want a husband.
When December proposes, on one knee
with a ring of black diamond in a velvet case,
Wednesday laughs and says yes and then
has to explain why it's funny that she's
winding up with a husband after all,
just one who isn't exactly a man.
They get married on a beautiful spring day
with clouds like merino wool and rain
like curtains of silk, silver and gold
where the sun peeks out to play
through the falling water.
Wednesday is wearing a dress
bedecked in jet beads that she
and her mother made together.
December is wearing a bespoke suit
and her lucky Lady Florsheims.
Thing brings the rings, slipped onto
each other's fingers to hide the marks
that are each only for the other now.
December is maybe trembling a little
when she lifts the black lace veil
to kiss her blushing bride.
Morticia is definitely crying as she
hands over the matriarch's key
to her newlywed daughter.
After the wedding proper,
there is a family reunion with
both sides, lots of people huddling
under umbrellas with new friends.
December whispers, "I'm pretty sure
those boys who almost killed each other
fighting over the bouquet are kissing
behind the garden shed."
Wednesday doesn't giggle,
but she gives a dark little chuckle.
December is a perfect gentleman as
she cuts the enormous black forest cake
and delicately feeds Wednesday a bite
from a silver fork, then returns to serve
everyone else while Wednesday attends
to service from the champagne fountain.
"See, I said you'd grow up to marry a man
just like your father," says Old Uncle Fester
as he holds out his champagne flute.
"December isn't a man," Wednesday points out.
She has had that conversation twenty times today.
"But just like your father," says Old Uncle Fester,
nodding at December and Gomez in matching tuxedoes.
"Hard to argue with that one," Wednesday admits
as she hands him the flute full of bubbles,
which emits a long trail of smoke.
* * *
Notes:
The Addams Family is a famous show about delightfully weird people. This is the next generation.
See December Addams and her Lady Florsheims.
Butch and femme are gender polarities in the lesbian community. Stereotypically, femmes wear a lot of pink. We all know what Wednesday Addams does with stereotypes: she uses them to light the parlor candles.
Women Who Run with the Wolves is a classic feminist book. Diana is the Roman goddess of wild animals and the hunt, often considered a lesbian.
The left ring finger was believed to have a direct connection to the heart.
Soulmates may be identified by marks. Here I have twisted the trope so that a soulmark does not tell you who to get involved with, but rather when you have found an optimum match. You still have to do all the work of building a good relationship yourself. But Wednesday has the most romantic role models in the history of ever, so she knows how to do that.
technoshaman. It also fills the "crafty" square in my 12-1-15 card for the Defining Character Bingo fest, and the "soulmates" square in my 10-2-15 card for the ladiesbingo fest."The Addams Family Reunion"
Wednesday Addams is crafty
in both senses of the word,
sly and creative.
She sews herself a dress
of black silk slit past her navel
and slinks on stiletto heels
made from recycled knives.
When the other young women
at college whisper behind their hands
or to her face, wondering why she
never wears anything but black,
Wednesday just smiles and says,
"I'm a dark femme. Not all
high femmes wear pink."
In the autumn, she walks through fog
between rows of streetlights like full moons
and imagines that she hears the song
of werewolves running in the woods
behind the campus.
But then one night,
it's not imagination anymore,
and that's how she meets December.
Where Wednesday is feminine,
December is masculine, small breasts
buttoned behind the white shirt and
pinstriped suitcoat of a soft butch.
Once a month, December turns into
a brindled wolf, and Wednesday
runs beside her dressed as Diana.
On cold, snowy evenings
they drink black cappuccino
and share dark chocolate tortes
in the campus coffeehouse,
go out for dinner and an opera,
and frighten the little siblings
of their classmates who visit.
They talk about Wednesday's career
as a decorator of funeral parlors --
already in demand -- and December's
as a lawyer, interning at her uncle's firm.
They talk about how many children they want --
at least two, a boy and a girl -- and where
they might find a witch because clearly
they're going to need some help
to get Wednesday pregnant.
They meet each other's families,
which is nerve-wracking but also
secretly exciting to meet so many
new and interesting people.
Wednesday isn't surprised when
the tiny red heart blossoms at
the base of her left ring finger.
She remembers getting "the Talk"
from her mother at twelve, about how
everyone's heart has its own wavelength,
like a radio channel, and the soulmark
appears to tell you when you're falling
for someone who is on your wavelength
and will make a good husband.
She remembers thinking, silently,
But Mother, I don't want a husband.
When December proposes, on one knee
with a ring of black diamond in a velvet case,
Wednesday laughs and says yes and then
has to explain why it's funny that she's
winding up with a husband after all,
just one who isn't exactly a man.
They get married on a beautiful spring day
with clouds like merino wool and rain
like curtains of silk, silver and gold
where the sun peeks out to play
through the falling water.
Wednesday is wearing a dress
bedecked in jet beads that she
and her mother made together.
December is wearing a bespoke suit
and her lucky Lady Florsheims.
Thing brings the rings, slipped onto
each other's fingers to hide the marks
that are each only for the other now.
December is maybe trembling a little
when she lifts the black lace veil
to kiss her blushing bride.
Morticia is definitely crying as she
hands over the matriarch's key
to her newlywed daughter.
After the wedding proper,
there is a family reunion with
both sides, lots of people huddling
under umbrellas with new friends.
December whispers, "I'm pretty sure
those boys who almost killed each other
fighting over the bouquet are kissing
behind the garden shed."
Wednesday doesn't giggle,
but she gives a dark little chuckle.
December is a perfect gentleman as
she cuts the enormous black forest cake
and delicately feeds Wednesday a bite
from a silver fork, then returns to serve
everyone else while Wednesday attends
to service from the champagne fountain.
"See, I said you'd grow up to marry a man
just like your father," says Old Uncle Fester
as he holds out his champagne flute.
"December isn't a man," Wednesday points out.
She has had that conversation twenty times today.
"But just like your father," says Old Uncle Fester,
nodding at December and Gomez in matching tuxedoes.
"Hard to argue with that one," Wednesday admits
as she hands him the flute full of bubbles,
which emits a long trail of smoke.
* * *
Notes:
The Addams Family is a famous show about delightfully weird people. This is the next generation.
See December Addams and her Lady Florsheims.
Butch and femme are gender polarities in the lesbian community. Stereotypically, femmes wear a lot of pink. We all know what Wednesday Addams does with stereotypes: she uses them to light the parlor candles.
Women Who Run with the Wolves is a classic feminist book. Diana is the Roman goddess of wild animals and the hunt, often considered a lesbian.
The left ring finger was believed to have a direct connection to the heart.
Soulmates may be identified by marks. Here I have twisted the trope so that a soulmark does not tell you who to get involved with, but rather when you have found an optimum match. You still have to do all the work of building a good relationship yourself. But Wednesday has the most romantic role models in the history of ever, so she knows how to do that.
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(no subject)
Date: 2015-12-01 08:42 pm (UTC)This is EPIC.
Thank you!
Date: 2015-12-01 08:53 pm (UTC):D Yay!
>> First: I learned a new word! <<
That's always fun.
>> 'Femme' is interesting. <<
I like it because it's so subversive -- the idea that women can be feminine without pandering to the assumed male gaze. They can dress up for themselves, or other women, or what the hell ever. Including black silk if that's their fancy.
>> Second: SOULMARKS THAT ONLY SHOW POTENTIAL! It's WONDERFUL! <<
\o/ I really wanted to come up with a healthy and useful variation of a trope that often sucks.
>> I hate the idea that you're bound to one person without choice. <<
Yeah, that's obviously problematic, as even a quick skim of soulmate fic reveals.
>>This is EPIC.<<
*happydance*
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2015-12-01 08:56 pm (UTC)Re: Thank you!
Date: 2015-12-01 09:01 pm (UTC)Re: Thank you!
Date: 2015-12-01 09:03 pm (UTC)Re: Thank you!
Date: 2015-12-01 10:11 pm (UTC)Re: Thank you!
Date: 2015-12-01 10:16 pm (UTC)Re: Thank you!
Date: 2015-12-01 10:37 pm (UTC)Re: Thank you!
Date: 2015-12-01 10:25 pm (UTC)Re: Thank you!
Date: 2015-12-01 10:33 pm (UTC)(And this is a nice tangent to yesterday's Love is for Children story).
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2015-12-02 12:24 am (UTC)Re: Thank you!
Date: 2015-12-02 01:08 am (UTC)Since Robot Hugs is genderqueer, themselves, they draw a lot of comics on the topic. I also like this one: Gender Snack.
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2015-12-02 01:42 am (UTC)I have been known to say "My sexuality is a tesseract."
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2015-12-02 11:09 am (UTC)Re: Thank you!
Date: 2015-12-02 11:13 am (UTC)Re: Thank you!
Date: 2015-12-02 02:13 am (UTC)I've openly described myself as a lady bluerider before, a phrase drawn from those same days of MU*ing. This goes back to Dragonriders of Pern RP with relaxed canon rules; women who Impressed blue dragons were fairly often assumed to be other than heterosexual, though this obviously varied in... well, not reality, but character reality. Often they were less butch than women riding browns tended to be, but less femme than many ladies on greens were, plus maybe a little unusual, and... the idea grew metaphorical legs with me in the real world. Not quite a soft butch, but not precisely femme either, and distinctly quirky. I wonder if there's another already extant term for an identity like that?
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2015-12-02 11:14 am (UTC)Not being a member of that culture, I'm not entirely sure... someone exceptionally sweet and squishy? ;-)
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2015-12-03 07:54 am (UTC)Re: Thank you!
Date: 2015-12-03 12:30 pm (UTC)In MU*ing slang, a twink is someone completely, often obviously clueless about or flouting game rules/canon/local expectations, with a connotation of being unapologetic about it. One instance of doing something ridiculous in-game does not necessarily a twink make - newbie goofs happen, and even non-newbies make some pretty serious screw-ups now and again. Been there. this is harder to explain than I realized. It's more a pattern of behavior, a 'well yeah, this isn't really possible in game, but so what?' sort of thing.
Cheers. :)
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2015-12-18 03:05 pm (UTC)*I'm not sure that this is quite the right term, but I'm a little foggy, so I'm going to leave it stand.
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2015-12-01 10:50 pm (UTC)Re: Thank you!
Date: 2015-12-02 12:57 am (UTC)I think I'd enjoy the 'flexible gentlebeing' label, too. It seems cuddly.
As for the red jacket and green scarf... I've stolen hubby's four-sizes-too big sweatshirt, my son's least favorite hat, and a pair of my own (clearly unisex) scrub pants. The point is simply to be COMFORTABLE!
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2015-12-02 03:30 pm (UTC)Yeah, I shoot for 'dapper' and miss too. (Am currently noodling about combining up my attempts at dapper with attempts at mori kei, because what is my brain.)
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2015-12-02 06:16 pm (UTC)Somehow, I have it stuck in my brain NOW to genderbend mori a bit-- other than the natural colors and fabrics, the lots-of-thin-layers element won't /go/ for guys... unless... Howl was too flamboyant, especially in colors worn, but it would take the tall-thin-rake body style for a guy, too. Hmm... thin tee, a deliberately sheer dress shirt in a natural color (silk, of course), and a waistcoat worn open could work, especially if the latter is the 'heaviest' color and texture...
A pocket square tucked into the watch-pocket of the vest, instead of the breast pocket.
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2015-12-02 06:50 pm (UTC)Heavier layers work better for winter and more masculine presentations, and I've seen a couple of gorgeous outfits involving leather or buckskin that would work for most temperatures < roasting.
But the soft earth tones and layers and texture - particularly texturey knits which I love anyway - and then waistcoat and pocket square, as you say. Yes yes yes. I found a couple of examples on Pinterest. Both of those are fairly slim, too, but I can't currently access Tumblr to find the bigger examples I've seen.
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2015-12-02 10:46 pm (UTC)Because, frankly, I could wake up feeling like a complete dudebro and by the time I'm ready to get in the shower, I'm wondering where the silk scarf that would be JUST the PERFECT textural complement to a favorite geek-themed hoodie has slipped off to.
The 'fashion' gene, I have NOT.
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2015-12-02 10:52 pm (UTC)I upgraded a bit past jeans and T-shirt because I took note of how people treat me. I'm not what people expect to see in my field, so I end up dressing slacks + long-sleeve just so I get taken seriously at work.
Then that's boring, so I add something entertaining to keep myself from being disgusted when I look in the mirror. (Waistcoat, or tie, or jewelry, or all three on days when I could use the extra armor.)
Then I started poking around at how other people do this thing and totally fell in love with several styles I'd never want to actually wear. *lol* One thing led to another and I'm actively trying to up my game, to take "dressing nicely" from A Thing I Have To Do hopefully toward A Thing I Want To Do.
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2015-12-02 11:05 pm (UTC)Mostly I wear comfortable, sturdy things that I like the look of. Printed t-shirts and sweatshirts I love.
For professional occasions I mostly want clothes that say "Look at me, I'm hear to entertain you!" After all, you can't see what I'm wearing now (which actually is a sweatshirt with cardinal birds on it) but when I go to cons I do panels. Fannish panels I dress geeky for, professional ones I'll put on an ivory suit or a brocade silk sari blouse or something else sophisticated.
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2015-12-03 03:35 pm (UTC)It sounds like you've got a good thing going. :)
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2015-12-03 12:27 am (UTC)But for awhile, it was a THING, and I'm still wondering if there will be time or opportunity next year. It could be fun, in a playful "Come As You Aren't" theme.
*G*
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2015-12-03 03:34 pm (UTC)Re: Thank you!
Date: 2015-12-02 11:08 pm (UTC)And I knew a girl in high school who not only had complete mastery of color matching and outfit assembly, I never saw her wear the same combination twice, nor was any of it following mainstream fashion. All unique, original creations. (That was, of course, at Uni High which is a magnet school, not the farm sump.)
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2015-12-03 12:18 am (UTC)......... today.
SIGH.
It's the one time I unabashedly say "boy brain"-- or I give in and ask my oldest son for fashion advice, because HE certainly does better than I do, and his usual style is Brat Pack with a Dash of Geek, so I think it's awesome.
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2015-12-08 12:30 am (UTC)Sweet
Date: 2015-12-01 08:51 pm (UTC)I love the Addam's Family. They are actually one of the most positive families in the media. I spent many hours as a kid and young adult with the Addams. And the Munsters for that matter.
I prefer your twist on soulmarks
Date: 2015-12-01 09:02 pm (UTC)Sniffle. Beautiful.
Re: I prefer your twist on soulmarks
Date: 2015-12-01 09:40 pm (UTC)>> And oh, may they have half a century or more of LIFE together... They're not a perfect couple (no one is) but they are /working togehter/ as one, and I think that will make all the difference! <<
Morticia and Gomez squabble sometimes, and don't always see eye-to-eye, but they always love each other. That's life. Wednesday and December will be fine.
>> Sniffle. Beautiful. <<
Yay!
(no subject)
Date: 2015-12-01 10:44 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-12-01 10:52 pm (UTC)I'm enjoying picturing Wednesday running dressed as Diana with December.
Thank you!
Date: 2015-12-01 10:54 pm (UTC)I'm glad you like it.
>> I like this version of soulmarks, too - and hiding them under the wedding rings. D'aww! <<
It's a way of saying "definitely taken."
>> I'm enjoying picturing Wednesday running dressed as Diana with December.<<
I think that would make great fanart.
(no subject)
Date: 2015-12-02 01:29 am (UTC)Oops ...
Date: 2015-12-02 01:47 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-12-02 01:47 am (UTC)Yay!
Date: 2015-12-02 01:52 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-12-02 01:56 am (UTC)Thank you!
Date: 2015-12-02 02:03 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-12-02 02:25 am (UTC)Thank you!
Date: 2015-12-02 02:29 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-12-02 02:50 am (UTC)Thank you!
Date: 2015-12-02 03:00 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-12-02 04:30 am (UTC)Thank you!
Date: 2015-12-02 04:33 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-12-02 04:51 pm (UTC)Two things: "it has been half-joked that the couple(Morticia and Gomez) appear to be the only 1960s TV parents capable of having children." and: "the Addamses are widely considered to be the most mentally healthy 60s sitcom family out there, and with good reason."
Quoting from the tvtropes article.
I love this. This is perfect.
(no subject)
Date: 2015-12-02 02:12 am (UTC)*chuckles* Morgan Freeman mused in Shawshank, "How often do you look at a man's shoes?" I don't know if it's just me, or if I'm being December's alter ego, but I'm *always* looking at shoes.
Mmmmm, black forest torte. One of my favourites, and so apropos... dark, with dark cherries. :)
<3 <3 <3 I squish you.
(no subject)
Date: 2015-12-06 01:49 am (UTC)As to the witch to get her pregnant... I had a plan for an Addams Family fanfic where Morticia was a trans woman, and in the plans I had her getting pregnant with the help of Dr. Mbogo (from the original TV series). I'm still trying to decide if I want to write that or not. There were other twists, like I think Gomez was intersex, but I don't remember them all offhand. I'd have to find the file with the info about it.
Why would Wednesday get married in spring? Her mother would be appalled, all that sunshine. :-)
Thoughts
Date: 2015-12-06 09:48 am (UTC)No.
>>As to the witch to get her pregnant... I had a plan for an Addams Family fanfic where Morticia was a trans woman, and in the plans I had her getting pregnant with the help of Dr. Mbogo (from the original TV series). I'm still trying to decide if I want to write that or not. There were other twists, like I think Gomez was intersex, but I don't remember them all offhand. I'd have to find the file with the info about it.<<
<3 this.
>>Why would Wednesday get married in spring? Her mother would be appalled, all that sunshine. :-) <<
April showers.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2015-12-06 12:04 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-12-06 01:51 am (UTC)Yes...
Date: 2015-12-06 09:48 am (UTC)