Poem: "Their Patchwork Heritage"
Apr. 27th, 2021 05:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithThis is the second freebie from the April 20, 2021 Bonus Fishbowl, thanks to new donor scrubjayspeaks. It was inspired by a prompt from erulisse. It also fills the "clothing" square in my 4-4-21 "Aspects" card for the Genderplay Bingo fest. This poem belongs to the Daughters of the Apocalypse series.
"Their Patchwork Heritage"
[0 A.E.]
Aoiki Go was ten
the year everybody died.
Sie was left alone in
the mountain cabin that
was supposed to be for
fun ski vacations.
Sie had never really
enjoyed those, being
always on the outside,
a dirty little family secret,
but at least it had been warm.
Aoiki ate all the food and
scavenged for scraps.
Sie found some clothes
that fit and others that didn't,
some that the animals had
gotten into and torn to shreds.
Sie remembered the stories
hir grandmother had told about
boro and using up everything.
Aoiki sewed the scraps into
blankets and coats and
finally felt warm again.
When sie made it down
from the mountain, sie
sewed things for strangers
using whatever bits of cloth
came most readily to hand.
They paid hir in food
and didn't care about
hir odd body at all.
Shanice Winston
was thirty-eight when
she lost everything.
First her husband died,
and then her grown children,
one by one, gasping.
People were always
leaving her; that was life.
Shanice picked up
the pieces and went on.
She scrounged what she
could and made herself a robe,
its triangles patchworked into
the Flying Geese pattern that
meant death, loss, going away.
It was beautiful anyway.
When she stumbled across
other survivors, they admired it.
Shanice took the remnants
of cloth they brought her
and made more robes.
The geese might fly away,
but some always returned.
Rosita Del Rio walked out of
El Barrio wearing nothing but
a white tank and denim shorts.
She needed more protection
than that, so she took some rags
that she found in the gutters and
sewed them into longer legs.
She cut pieces from the tires
of an abandoned vehicle and
made huaraches sandals.
She found a torn denim jacket
and spliced in panels of other cloth,
then embroidered over everything
to make it all look deliberate.
Parents with surviving children
looked at her colorful pants
and asked if she could
make the legs longer on
their children's clothes.
Rosita took what she
could get in trade and
sewed rings of fabric
to stretch things just
that little bit farther.
She embroidered
the blossoms to remind
everyone of Mexico,
where every storm
brought forth flowers.
No matter what hardships
the Aftermath brought,
people persevered.
They pulled scraps
from the wreckage of
the old world and made
something new of them
and wore the particolors
without any shame.
For they knew that
their patchwork heritage
was a strength, not a weakness.
* * *
Notes:
For general notes about this setting, see the pages on maps, vehicles, glossary, the Grunge, and animals.
Aoki Go -- Sie has fair skin, almond-shaped brown eyes, and short ragged brown hair. Sie is short and slim. Sie is intersex. Hir heritage is Japanese-American. Sie is 10 years old at the End. When hir family dies, Aoki is left alone. Sie uses traditional boro to sew blankets and coats, later becoming popular for it among other refugees.
sie, hir (Hyde, 2001)
sie is laughing
I called hir
hir eyes gleam
that is hirs
sie likes hirself
Boro is traditional Japanese patchwork. It can be used to make blankets, repair clothes, and so on.
Sashiko is decorative and functional embroidery used in boro and other traditional Japanese textiles. Here are some patterns and other resources. Bear in mind that these are modern instructions; the historic approach usually just eyeballed things.
Shanice Winston -- She has sorrel skin, dark brown eyes, and wildly curly hair to her shoulders. She is tall and sturdy. She has no ovaries or uterus left due to complications from her last pregnancy. Her heritage is African-American. She is 38 at the End. After her husband and grown children die, Shanice is left alone. She uses traditional African-American quilting to make robes for warmth and memorial. Later other people admire them and want some, making her popular among refugees.
African-American quilting goes back at least as far as slavery days. Black women used many traditional quilt patterns, along with making crazy quilts of whatever they had. You can see many examples of both from the Gees Bend Quiltmakers.
Rosita Del Rio -- She has caramel skin, brown eyes, and wavy brown hair to her shoulders. She is tall and skinny. Her heritage is Hispanic. She is 16 years old at the End. After her neighborhood is destroyed, Rosita flees with almost nothing. She uses Mexican patchwork and embroidery to extend her shorts into pants, and make other things. Fellow refugees ask her to extend their children's clothing, making her a popular seamstress.
Mexican patchwork uses vivid colors and contrasts. Enjoy instructions for lengthening pants and making patchwork clothes.
Mexican embroidery uses a variety of stitches including Gancho and Otomi.
See Rosita's patchwork jacket.
* * *
"For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness."
-- Barack Obama
Flying Geese is an old patchwork pattern that exists in myriad variations. The core concept is a triangle made of half a square, which in multiples can look like a flock of birds. Darts and triangles can represent death or loss, and migrating birds imply going away.
El Barrio technically means "the neighborhood" but its connotation is "slum."
Huaraches are Mexican sandals often made from tire treads. This use of tires will last much longer than vehicular use, because it puts less stress on the material.
scrubjayspeaks. It was inspired by a prompt from erulisse. It also fills the "clothing" square in my 4-4-21 "Aspects" card for the Genderplay Bingo fest. This poem belongs to the Daughters of the Apocalypse series."Their Patchwork Heritage"
[0 A.E.]
Aoiki Go was ten
the year everybody died.
Sie was left alone in
the mountain cabin that
was supposed to be for
fun ski vacations.
Sie had never really
enjoyed those, being
always on the outside,
a dirty little family secret,
but at least it had been warm.
Aoiki ate all the food and
scavenged for scraps.
Sie found some clothes
that fit and others that didn't,
some that the animals had
gotten into and torn to shreds.
Sie remembered the stories
hir grandmother had told about
boro and using up everything.
Aoiki sewed the scraps into
blankets and coats and
finally felt warm again.
When sie made it down
from the mountain, sie
sewed things for strangers
using whatever bits of cloth
came most readily to hand.
They paid hir in food
and didn't care about
hir odd body at all.
Shanice Winston
was thirty-eight when
she lost everything.
First her husband died,
and then her grown children,
one by one, gasping.
People were always
leaving her; that was life.
Shanice picked up
the pieces and went on.
She scrounged what she
could and made herself a robe,
its triangles patchworked into
the Flying Geese pattern that
meant death, loss, going away.
It was beautiful anyway.
When she stumbled across
other survivors, they admired it.
Shanice took the remnants
of cloth they brought her
and made more robes.
The geese might fly away,
but some always returned.
Rosita Del Rio walked out of
El Barrio wearing nothing but
a white tank and denim shorts.
She needed more protection
than that, so she took some rags
that she found in the gutters and
sewed them into longer legs.
She cut pieces from the tires
of an abandoned vehicle and
made huaraches sandals.
She found a torn denim jacket
and spliced in panels of other cloth,
then embroidered over everything
to make it all look deliberate.
Parents with surviving children
looked at her colorful pants
and asked if she could
make the legs longer on
their children's clothes.
Rosita took what she
could get in trade and
sewed rings of fabric
to stretch things just
that little bit farther.
She embroidered
the blossoms to remind
everyone of Mexico,
where every storm
brought forth flowers.
No matter what hardships
the Aftermath brought,
people persevered.
They pulled scraps
from the wreckage of
the old world and made
something new of them
and wore the particolors
without any shame.
For they knew that
their patchwork heritage
was a strength, not a weakness.
* * *
Notes:
For general notes about this setting, see the pages on maps, vehicles, glossary, the Grunge, and animals.
Aoki Go -- Sie has fair skin, almond-shaped brown eyes, and short ragged brown hair. Sie is short and slim. Sie is intersex. Hir heritage is Japanese-American. Sie is 10 years old at the End. When hir family dies, Aoki is left alone. Sie uses traditional boro to sew blankets and coats, later becoming popular for it among other refugees.
sie, hir (Hyde, 2001)
sie is laughing
I called hir
hir eyes gleam
that is hirs
sie likes hirself
Boro is traditional Japanese patchwork. It can be used to make blankets, repair clothes, and so on.
Sashiko is decorative and functional embroidery used in boro and other traditional Japanese textiles. Here are some patterns and other resources. Bear in mind that these are modern instructions; the historic approach usually just eyeballed things.
Shanice Winston -- She has sorrel skin, dark brown eyes, and wildly curly hair to her shoulders. She is tall and sturdy. She has no ovaries or uterus left due to complications from her last pregnancy. Her heritage is African-American. She is 38 at the End. After her husband and grown children die, Shanice is left alone. She uses traditional African-American quilting to make robes for warmth and memorial. Later other people admire them and want some, making her popular among refugees.
African-American quilting goes back at least as far as slavery days. Black women used many traditional quilt patterns, along with making crazy quilts of whatever they had. You can see many examples of both from the Gees Bend Quiltmakers.
Rosita Del Rio -- She has caramel skin, brown eyes, and wavy brown hair to her shoulders. She is tall and skinny. Her heritage is Hispanic. She is 16 years old at the End. After her neighborhood is destroyed, Rosita flees with almost nothing. She uses Mexican patchwork and embroidery to extend her shorts into pants, and make other things. Fellow refugees ask her to extend their children's clothing, making her a popular seamstress.
Mexican patchwork uses vivid colors and contrasts. Enjoy instructions for lengthening pants and making patchwork clothes.
Mexican embroidery uses a variety of stitches including Gancho and Otomi.
See Rosita's patchwork jacket.
* * *
"For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness."
-- Barack Obama
Flying Geese is an old patchwork pattern that exists in myriad variations. The core concept is a triangle made of half a square, which in multiples can look like a flock of birds. Darts and triangles can represent death or loss, and migrating birds imply going away.
El Barrio technically means "the neighborhood" but its connotation is "slum."
Huaraches are Mexican sandals often made from tire treads. This use of tires will last much longer than vehicular use, because it puts less stress on the material.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-04-28 03:44 am (UTC)Now I feel artsy-draw-y...
Thank you!
Date: 2021-04-28 03:51 am (UTC)That's what I was aiming for.
>> Now I feel artsy-draw-y... <<
Yay! Go for it. :D
(no subject)
Date: 2021-04-28 03:55 pm (UTC)Now i want to go work on my knitting.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-04-28 05:03 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2021-07-09 07:25 pm (UTC)Yes ...
Date: 2021-07-09 08:21 pm (UTC)