Poem: "Return Pass"
Feb. 26th, 2018 09:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithThis poem is spillover from the December 5, 2017 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from alexseanchai. It also fills the "sunshine and blue skies" square in my 12-3-17 card for the ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
genprompt_bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by EdorFaus. It belongs to the Shiv thread of the Polychrome Heroics series.
"Return Pass"
It had rained for three days straight,
cold and gray and nothing that
Shiv wanted to go out in.
When Thursday arrived with
sunshine and blue skies, then he
dashed out enjoy the beautiful day.
First he hopped on the bus and
just rode around for a while, watching
the streets of Omaha flow past as he
thought about what he wanted to do.
It was cheap, it was relaxing, and it
helped him relearn where things were.
This was why he always budgeted for
a monthly pass, so he could ride around
without having to count out coins per trip.
Shiv hopped off at one of his favorite parks.
He could hang out for a while and then
just catch the bus on its return pass.
Dragon Park filled an odd-shaped space
between the Baldrige Apartment Complex
and the Harding Plaza strip mall. It was
only about an acre, but it had a plaza,
some playground equipment, and
several dense clusters of trees.
Shiv started out by jogging
around the paths that edged
the little park, just to burn off
some of his excess energy.
Then he rambled along
the winding strips of brick art
laid into the plaza, just putting
one foot in front of the other.
He clambered over some of
the playground equipment.
His favorite attraction was
the big wooden sea dragon
"swimming" through the grass
and into the sand pit, which was
ringed with posts of varying heights.
He could circle that as long as he
wanted, and if he fell off, he'd land
on either soft grass or soft sand.
When Shiv got tired of the park,
he walked over to the strip mall
that held Nick's Thrifts to find out
whether they had anything good.
He didn't see anything he wanted
in the way of clothes or kitchen stuff,
but the craft section caught his eye.
There on the lowest shelf was
a whole shopping bag full of yarn.
The price tag only said a buck, and
he could see why -- there weren't
more than two balls of any one color,
and they were all different sizes.
They were probably left over from
some other project, and it would be
hard to make anything else with them.
Except that Shiv's projects were small
and didn't require matching colors anyhow.
Grinning, he grabbed the bag and then
went to the front counter to pay for it.
After that, Shiv went back to Dragon Park
to sit on the long bench that served as
a bus stop for the area. It didn't have
a fancy roof like some did, but that was
okay, because trees shaded part of it.
The sunny part held an old woman with
long blonde hair going white, who was
crocheting an American flag lap blanket.
"Nice work," Shiv said, watching
her hands move and the silver needle
dip and flash in the midday sun.
The bus came, and they both got on,
winding up side-by-side because those
were the only two seats left open.
Apparently everyone else wanted
to take advantage of the pretty day too.
The old woman picked up her yarn
again and went back to working
on the edge of the flag blanket.
Shiv couldn't resist any longer.
He reached back to pull out
his favorite crochet hook from
the pen pocket of his jeans.
He chose a sky-blue ball of yarn
and began crocheting one of
the patterns he had learned,
the kind that increased quickly
so he'd have something to show
after just a few minutes of work.
Soon the edge started to curl,
and the next row pulled it into
deepening folds as it grew.
"Mind if I ask what you're
making?" the old woman said.
"Uh ... ruffle," Shiv said.
"I can see that part, but it
doesn't look like any ruffle
I've ever made, or even
seen before," she said.
Shiv slid a little lower
in his seat. "It's called
a hyperbolic plane," he said.
"There was a class at the library."
"Now I wish I'd caught that one,"
she said. "I'm Edie Deering. I belong
to a club called Silver Knitters, because we
started out with a few retired folks who knit.
Now it's crochet and everything else,
with a much wider range of ages."
"I'm Shiv," he said, his fingers
tightening on his work. "I,
uh, work at a jazz joint."
"That's nice," said Edie.
"Your ruffle seems to be
wadding itself into a ball."
A smirk tugged at one corner
of Shiv's mouth. "Yeah, it's
supposed to do that. It makes
like a Christmas tree ornament.
They're fun to play with, you can
really dig your fingers into them."
"Oh, that sounds like a good ball
for small children to play with,"
Edie said. "It would be easy
for them to catch hold of it."
"I guess, yeah," Shiv said.
He rummaged in his bag and
found a ball of sunshine yellow,
then began the next row in that color.
"See, you can put an edge on it
like this so it stands out more."
"That certainly does pop,"
Edie agreed. "I wish that I
could make one of those for
my grandkids. How hard
is the pattern for that?"
Shiv laughed. "It ain't."
Edie eyed his ruffle and said,
"I find that difficult to believe."
"No, really," Shiv said. "If it was
hard, then I couldn't do it. I still
can't do the fancy math, but this
is just a bunch of single crochet
all balled up on itself in the end."
"It looks like you're increasing
really fast," Edie replied.
"Yeah, you start out by
crocheting four chains, then
turn those into a circle and go
around the edge," Shiv explained.
"Pick a number and that becomes
your increase. In this ball, I'm putting
two new stitches into each old stitch."
"No wonder it curls up on itself
like that," Edie said. "How clever!"
She fingered her yarn, but it was
all tied up in her flag blanket.
Shiv couldn't help remembering
Cadenza Darden and how she had
given him a ruffle, a crochet hook,
a leftover ball of blue yarn, and
several how-to brochures.
He didn't have brochures
or a hook, but he sure had
plenty of yarn. He reached
into his bag and handed
Edie a sea-green ball.
"Go ahead and try it,"
he said. "You already got
a hook, just pin your place
and switch to the new project."
"Oh, I always carry spare hooks,"
Edie said. "Never know when I
might get bored of my current work."
Very quickly she made a chain
and fastened it into a circle.
"Now what did you say about
the increases?" she asked.
"The faster it increases,
the more it ruffles," Shiv said.
"Try putting two in one and
you'll see it grow real fast --
only takes like four-five rows
before it starts to bend."
"All right, let's see now,"
Edie said, carefully working
her way around the circle.
By this point, Shiv had
two rows of yellow and
his ruffle was balling up.
He tied off the end,
cut loose the yellow yarn,
then carefully pulled up
the blue tail and knotted it
to make a hanging loop.
"This isn't so hard after all,"
Edie said. She showed him
the beginning of her ruffle.
"Yeah, looks like you got it
now," he said. "Go you."
"Well, I do Tunisian crochet,
it's a bit different and it's tricky,"
Edie said. "I like going back and
forth. The return pass is always fun."
Shiv snorted. "I can barely
figure out single crochet."
"I'm just saying, in case you
ever get bored with that," she said.
"We meet in the Arts Room over at
the Papillion Community Center, if you
feel like dropping by some time."
Shiv opened his mouth to say
maybe like he usually did, and
what came out was, "I'll check
my calendar and see if it fits."
"Here, I have a schedule of
our meetings," Edie said,
and handed him a flyer.
"Thanks," he said. Then
he realized the bus was
approaching his stop.
"Whoops, gotta go,"
Shiv said, scrambling
to stuff things into his bag.
"It was nice meeting you,"
Edie said, waving goodbye.
Shiv grinned, and then tossed
his finished ruffle-ball at her. "Catch!"
It bounced off the side of the bus,
but she caught it on the return pass.
* * *
Notes:
Edie Deering -- She has pale skin, blue eyes, and long wavy blonde hair going white. She wears glasses. Edie is married with four children and six grandchildren. She lives with her family in Omaha, Nebraska. Extroverted and outgoing, she has a lot of friends. Edie used to own a craft store before she retired, leaving it to her oldest son. Now she enjoys spending time with friends at Silver Knitters, a club that started with a handful of retired knitters but has grown to include all kinds of fibercrafts and a wider age range. Tunisian crochet and broomstick knitting are among her favorites, but she does others too.
Qualities: Expert (+4) Crochet, Good (+2) Extrovert, Good (+2) Grandmother, Good (+2) Visual-Spatial Intelligence
Poor (-2) Can't Drive
* * *
"Return pass" is a maneuver from Tunisian crochet, which looks like this.
Dragon Park fills an odd-shaped space between the Baldrige Apartment Complex and the Harding Plaza strip mall. It includes a rambling plaza with pavement and brick edging, walking and bike paths, picnic tables, separate playground equipment for toddlers and older children, and a few minor amenities such as lights and garbage cans. The signature feature of the park is a large wooden sea dragon "swimming" through the grass and into a sandbox ringed by short posts. Spaces between the apartment buildings are filled with dense plantings for wildlife, and residents volunteer to maintain various birdfeeders and birdbaths in those areas.
The Baldrige Apartment Complex is a set of five-story buildings built in the early 1960s as part of a project to create more affordable housing in Omaha. It's named after Letitia Baldrige. Achievement Building has studio and 1-bedroom apartments, Beauty Building has 1-bedroom and 2-bedroom apartments, and Courtesy Building has 2-bedroom and 3-bedroom apartments.
Nick's Thrifts is part of the Harding Plaza strip mall. The sign just says "Thrift Store" because it changed hands several times prior to the current owner. The outside of the store includes a large covered porch commonly used for sidewalk sales. Seasonal items and bargains often appear here. This is part of the clothing section. The craft section holds all kinds of stuff.
Papillion is a suburb of Omaha, Nebraska. in Sarpy County in the Stateof Nebraska. It is an 1870s railroad town and suburb of Omaha. A sitemap of the city park with community center includes nature areas, ball fields, playgrounds, trails, and the community center buildings. See an overview and a floor plan of the community center itself.
In Terramagne-America the bus passes typically come in multiple versions, and many transit systems offer a monthly pass. In general, bus passes are better, cheaper, and less bother to obtain there compared to here. You don't need ID to buy or use most of them, although you can get a picture pass to serve as non-driving ID if you wish. For special discount or free passes, the transit authority is only allowed to contact your school, social worker, etc. to verify that you are a student, disabled, or otherwise qualified -- they can't demand your personal information just because you want to go places. Youth passes don't have a minimum age; instead, applicants must pass a test demonstrating that they know how to use the bus system alone.
This is Shiv's yarn bag.
Jean pockets come in a variety of styles. Shiv uses his pockets liberally, so he likes traditional 5-pocket or cargo jeans that have plenty. Today his jeans are dark indigo, almost black, with yellow contrast stitching in a few embellishing loops. They have a narrow pocket inside the back right pocket, meant to hold a pen, which Shiv uses for his crochet hook.
Read about Super-Intellect Daina Taimina.
Crocheting the hyperbolic plane makes a good homework assignment. The purple ruffle is in this set. Here is the purse and its pattern. This set of pieces shows the anatomy of a hyperbolic plane crocheted around a point. Here is the mauve ruffle and its math. The red ruffle has parallel lines on it. The lavender one comes with a triangle. The sea slug is another crochet project. The fiesta scarf is a long riffle that you can crochet. The Christmas ornament is a simple pattern.
The front of Shiv's first brochure teaches crochet basics. The back shows more stitches.
The front of the second brochure is about crocheting a coral reef. There are more pictures here. The back shows more patterns for hyperbolic planes.
alexseanchai. It also fills the "sunshine and blue skies" square in my 12-3-17 card for the genprompt_bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by EdorFaus. It belongs to the Shiv thread of the Polychrome Heroics series."Return Pass"
It had rained for three days straight,
cold and gray and nothing that
Shiv wanted to go out in.
When Thursday arrived with
sunshine and blue skies, then he
dashed out enjoy the beautiful day.
First he hopped on the bus and
just rode around for a while, watching
the streets of Omaha flow past as he
thought about what he wanted to do.
It was cheap, it was relaxing, and it
helped him relearn where things were.
This was why he always budgeted for
a monthly pass, so he could ride around
without having to count out coins per trip.
Shiv hopped off at one of his favorite parks.
He could hang out for a while and then
just catch the bus on its return pass.
Dragon Park filled an odd-shaped space
between the Baldrige Apartment Complex
and the Harding Plaza strip mall. It was
only about an acre, but it had a plaza,
some playground equipment, and
several dense clusters of trees.
Shiv started out by jogging
around the paths that edged
the little park, just to burn off
some of his excess energy.
Then he rambled along
the winding strips of brick art
laid into the plaza, just putting
one foot in front of the other.
He clambered over some of
the playground equipment.
His favorite attraction was
the big wooden sea dragon
"swimming" through the grass
and into the sand pit, which was
ringed with posts of varying heights.
He could circle that as long as he
wanted, and if he fell off, he'd land
on either soft grass or soft sand.
When Shiv got tired of the park,
he walked over to the strip mall
that held Nick's Thrifts to find out
whether they had anything good.
He didn't see anything he wanted
in the way of clothes or kitchen stuff,
but the craft section caught his eye.
There on the lowest shelf was
a whole shopping bag full of yarn.
The price tag only said a buck, and
he could see why -- there weren't
more than two balls of any one color,
and they were all different sizes.
They were probably left over from
some other project, and it would be
hard to make anything else with them.
Except that Shiv's projects were small
and didn't require matching colors anyhow.
Grinning, he grabbed the bag and then
went to the front counter to pay for it.
After that, Shiv went back to Dragon Park
to sit on the long bench that served as
a bus stop for the area. It didn't have
a fancy roof like some did, but that was
okay, because trees shaded part of it.
The sunny part held an old woman with
long blonde hair going white, who was
crocheting an American flag lap blanket.
"Nice work," Shiv said, watching
her hands move and the silver needle
dip and flash in the midday sun.
The bus came, and they both got on,
winding up side-by-side because those
were the only two seats left open.
Apparently everyone else wanted
to take advantage of the pretty day too.
The old woman picked up her yarn
again and went back to working
on the edge of the flag blanket.
Shiv couldn't resist any longer.
He reached back to pull out
his favorite crochet hook from
the pen pocket of his jeans.
He chose a sky-blue ball of yarn
and began crocheting one of
the patterns he had learned,
the kind that increased quickly
so he'd have something to show
after just a few minutes of work.
Soon the edge started to curl,
and the next row pulled it into
deepening folds as it grew.
"Mind if I ask what you're
making?" the old woman said.
"Uh ... ruffle," Shiv said.
"I can see that part, but it
doesn't look like any ruffle
I've ever made, or even
seen before," she said.
Shiv slid a little lower
in his seat. "It's called
a hyperbolic plane," he said.
"There was a class at the library."
"Now I wish I'd caught that one,"
she said. "I'm Edie Deering. I belong
to a club called Silver Knitters, because we
started out with a few retired folks who knit.
Now it's crochet and everything else,
with a much wider range of ages."
"I'm Shiv," he said, his fingers
tightening on his work. "I,
uh, work at a jazz joint."
"That's nice," said Edie.
"Your ruffle seems to be
wadding itself into a ball."
A smirk tugged at one corner
of Shiv's mouth. "Yeah, it's
supposed to do that. It makes
like a Christmas tree ornament.
They're fun to play with, you can
really dig your fingers into them."
"Oh, that sounds like a good ball
for small children to play with,"
Edie said. "It would be easy
for them to catch hold of it."
"I guess, yeah," Shiv said.
He rummaged in his bag and
found a ball of sunshine yellow,
then began the next row in that color.
"See, you can put an edge on it
like this so it stands out more."
"That certainly does pop,"
Edie agreed. "I wish that I
could make one of those for
my grandkids. How hard
is the pattern for that?"
Shiv laughed. "It ain't."
Edie eyed his ruffle and said,
"I find that difficult to believe."
"No, really," Shiv said. "If it was
hard, then I couldn't do it. I still
can't do the fancy math, but this
is just a bunch of single crochet
all balled up on itself in the end."
"It looks like you're increasing
really fast," Edie replied.
"Yeah, you start out by
crocheting four chains, then
turn those into a circle and go
around the edge," Shiv explained.
"Pick a number and that becomes
your increase. In this ball, I'm putting
two new stitches into each old stitch."
"No wonder it curls up on itself
like that," Edie said. "How clever!"
She fingered her yarn, but it was
all tied up in her flag blanket.
Shiv couldn't help remembering
Cadenza Darden and how she had
given him a ruffle, a crochet hook,
a leftover ball of blue yarn, and
several how-to brochures.
He didn't have brochures
or a hook, but he sure had
plenty of yarn. He reached
into his bag and handed
Edie a sea-green ball.
"Go ahead and try it,"
he said. "You already got
a hook, just pin your place
and switch to the new project."
"Oh, I always carry spare hooks,"
Edie said. "Never know when I
might get bored of my current work."
Very quickly she made a chain
and fastened it into a circle.
"Now what did you say about
the increases?" she asked.
"The faster it increases,
the more it ruffles," Shiv said.
"Try putting two in one and
you'll see it grow real fast --
only takes like four-five rows
before it starts to bend."
"All right, let's see now,"
Edie said, carefully working
her way around the circle.
By this point, Shiv had
two rows of yellow and
his ruffle was balling up.
He tied off the end,
cut loose the yellow yarn,
then carefully pulled up
the blue tail and knotted it
to make a hanging loop.
"This isn't so hard after all,"
Edie said. She showed him
the beginning of her ruffle.
"Yeah, looks like you got it
now," he said. "Go you."
"Well, I do Tunisian crochet,
it's a bit different and it's tricky,"
Edie said. "I like going back and
forth. The return pass is always fun."
Shiv snorted. "I can barely
figure out single crochet."
"I'm just saying, in case you
ever get bored with that," she said.
"We meet in the Arts Room over at
the Papillion Community Center, if you
feel like dropping by some time."
Shiv opened his mouth to say
maybe like he usually did, and
what came out was, "I'll check
my calendar and see if it fits."
"Here, I have a schedule of
our meetings," Edie said,
and handed him a flyer.
"Thanks," he said. Then
he realized the bus was
approaching his stop.
"Whoops, gotta go,"
Shiv said, scrambling
to stuff things into his bag.
"It was nice meeting you,"
Edie said, waving goodbye.
Shiv grinned, and then tossed
his finished ruffle-ball at her. "Catch!"
It bounced off the side of the bus,
but she caught it on the return pass.
* * *
Notes:
Edie Deering -- She has pale skin, blue eyes, and long wavy blonde hair going white. She wears glasses. Edie is married with four children and six grandchildren. She lives with her family in Omaha, Nebraska. Extroverted and outgoing, she has a lot of friends. Edie used to own a craft store before she retired, leaving it to her oldest son. Now she enjoys spending time with friends at Silver Knitters, a club that started with a handful of retired knitters but has grown to include all kinds of fibercrafts and a wider age range. Tunisian crochet and broomstick knitting are among her favorites, but she does others too.
Qualities: Expert (+4) Crochet, Good (+2) Extrovert, Good (+2) Grandmother, Good (+2) Visual-Spatial Intelligence
Poor (-2) Can't Drive
* * *
"Return pass" is a maneuver from Tunisian crochet, which looks like this.
Dragon Park fills an odd-shaped space between the Baldrige Apartment Complex and the Harding Plaza strip mall. It includes a rambling plaza with pavement and brick edging, walking and bike paths, picnic tables, separate playground equipment for toddlers and older children, and a few minor amenities such as lights and garbage cans. The signature feature of the park is a large wooden sea dragon "swimming" through the grass and into a sandbox ringed by short posts. Spaces between the apartment buildings are filled with dense plantings for wildlife, and residents volunteer to maintain various birdfeeders and birdbaths in those areas.
The Baldrige Apartment Complex is a set of five-story buildings built in the early 1960s as part of a project to create more affordable housing in Omaha. It's named after Letitia Baldrige. Achievement Building has studio and 1-bedroom apartments, Beauty Building has 1-bedroom and 2-bedroom apartments, and Courtesy Building has 2-bedroom and 3-bedroom apartments.
Nick's Thrifts is part of the Harding Plaza strip mall. The sign just says "Thrift Store" because it changed hands several times prior to the current owner. The outside of the store includes a large covered porch commonly used for sidewalk sales. Seasonal items and bargains often appear here. This is part of the clothing section. The craft section holds all kinds of stuff.
Papillion is a suburb of Omaha, Nebraska. in Sarpy County in the Stateof Nebraska. It is an 1870s railroad town and suburb of Omaha. A sitemap of the city park with community center includes nature areas, ball fields, playgrounds, trails, and the community center buildings. See an overview and a floor plan of the community center itself.
In Terramagne-America the bus passes typically come in multiple versions, and many transit systems offer a monthly pass. In general, bus passes are better, cheaper, and less bother to obtain there compared to here. You don't need ID to buy or use most of them, although you can get a picture pass to serve as non-driving ID if you wish. For special discount or free passes, the transit authority is only allowed to contact your school, social worker, etc. to verify that you are a student, disabled, or otherwise qualified -- they can't demand your personal information just because you want to go places. Youth passes don't have a minimum age; instead, applicants must pass a test demonstrating that they know how to use the bus system alone.
This is Shiv's yarn bag.
Jean pockets come in a variety of styles. Shiv uses his pockets liberally, so he likes traditional 5-pocket or cargo jeans that have plenty. Today his jeans are dark indigo, almost black, with yellow contrast stitching in a few embellishing loops. They have a narrow pocket inside the back right pocket, meant to hold a pen, which Shiv uses for his crochet hook.
Read about Super-Intellect Daina Taimina.
Crocheting the hyperbolic plane makes a good homework assignment. The purple ruffle is in this set. Here is the purse and its pattern. This set of pieces shows the anatomy of a hyperbolic plane crocheted around a point. Here is the mauve ruffle and its math. The red ruffle has parallel lines on it. The lavender one comes with a triangle. The sea slug is another crochet project. The fiesta scarf is a long riffle that you can crochet. The Christmas ornament is a simple pattern.
The front of Shiv's first brochure teaches crochet basics. The back shows more stitches.
The front of the second brochure is about crocheting a coral reef. There are more pictures here. The back shows more patterns for hyperbolic planes.
Thank you!
Date: 2018-03-08 03:28 am (UTC):D I'm glad you enjoyed this so much.
>> Shiv + yarn is obviously a good combination! <<
Yea, verily. Feel free to prompt for more if you wish.
>> And look at him all being voluntarily pro-social! Wow! <3 <<
People think of Shiv as violent, and he can be if provoked. But he's a lot more reflexive than they realize. When people are nice to him, he's more functional than when they are not. He's never going to be nice himself, but he has a kind of gutter compassion.