Poem: "A Lot More Respect for a Bird"

[ysabetwordsmith]

This poem came out of the November 21, 2017 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from bairnsidhe. It also fills the "fish" square in my 7-1-17 card for the Winter Fest in July Bingo. This poem has been sponsored by janetmiles and Cody. It belongs to the series Feathered Nests, which you can find via my Serial Poetry page.


"A Lot More Respect for a Bird"


Commander Quillon Hale,
Commander Andreas Tyre,
Ensign Julian Obert,
Lieutenant Risa Martina, and
Lieutenant Carilla Rodriga
applied for family quarters.

The captain glared at them
over the paperwork, but
at least he approved it.

The ship wasn't used
to having five people
move all at the same time
and all into the same quarters.

They managed, though, with
a minimum of fuss, except that
Quillon was nowhere to be found
which left Andreas and Carilla
to do most of the heavy lifting.

When Andreas and Julian went
to check Quillon's room, they
discovered all of his belongings
packed neatly into boxes, so they
shrugged and carried them home.

Risa and Carilla bustled about
hanging photos of Fifers and
a few pieces of native art on
the walls of the living room.

Andreas flopped down
on the couch and declared,
"I have a lot more respect
for a bird now that I have
tried making a nest."

The door chimed, then
opened to reveal Quillon.

"Where have you been
all this time?" Carilla snapped,
glaring at their errant husband.

"... getting the fish?" he said
in a baffled tone. "All the alephs
insisted that this was traditional."

Everyone stared at the string of dripping fish.

"We're having Filetes de Pescado for supper!"
Risa crowed. She grabbed the fish from him
and then scampered into the galley.

"Works for me," everyone agreed,
and followed her to offer their help.

* * *

Notes:

"You'll have a lot more respect for a bird after you try making a nest."
-- Cynthia Lewis

Filetes de Pescado is a Mexican dish featuring fish in spicy sauce. It literally means "fillets of fish."

Comments

Re: Yay!

[callibr8]

I think that my habit of approaching the different (i.e. the "not-like-me") with curiosity rather than fear has long confounded the mundanes around me, and has contributed to my own sense of "otherness", even if my otherness isn't fully Fey (or anything else I can readily identify). One of my mottos has long been, "a stranger is a friend I haven't met yet", and I've been lucky enough in my encounters with most beings, that I still approach most new situations that way.

Re: Yay!

[ysabetwordsmith]

There's actually a word for that, xenophilia.