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ysabetwordsmithThis poem is spillover from the April 20, 2021 bonus fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from siliconshaman. It has been sponsored by fuzzyred and scrubjayspeaks. This poem belongs to the Daughters of the Apocalypse series.
"Half-understood and Half-remembered"
[0 A.E.]
The girls are young
when the world ends.
They are only Daisies
but they know a little
about camping out --
enough they don't die.
Even when their counselors
get sick and die, the girls don't.
They're sad and scared,
but they're alive and
they have each other.
The wolves are barely
better off than the girls.
They've grown up in
big pens with food
thrown in daily, but
when the food stops
coming, then they
dig their way out.
When they stumble
across each other,
everyone freezes
for just a moment.
Then the girls drop
to the ground and
pat their hands,
inviting the wolves
to come and play.
And the wolves do.
They all remember
each other from visits
at the Wolf Park.
It's not enough
to make up for
what they have
lost, but it's better
than nothing.
Their old names
no longer fit in
this new world, so
they name each other.
Full Moon is plump,
even when food is
scarce, and she is
their best forager,
knowing the plants.
Her favorite wolf
is Facelicker,
the alpha female,
mostly brown and white.
Long Legs is the fastest
among the girls and one
of their better hunters. She
is the older sister of Littlest,
their best scrounge, who
can get into almost anything.
Giggles is the strongest of
the girls and another of
their better hunters.
Her favorite wolf is
Big Sniff, the alpha male,
whose coat is mostly silver
streaked with black and cream.
They den in the woods and
under old bridges, with the girls
making shelters as best they can
and the wolves sharing their fur.
The wolves hardly know how
to hunt, but they're learning.
Hunger is a good teacher.
The girls were civilized once,
and they still scavenge for clothes
to keep themselves warm, but
they're learning to be wild.
Something in them awakens,
something old and strange.
Bone by bone, hair by hair,
the girls begin to change.
Through night dreams and
through events half-understood
and half-remembered, slowly,
Wild Woman comes back.
She seeps into the girls
with more than the memory
of mothers and counselors
who died trying to keep
them all safe in a world
suddenly turned savage.
She is something like
a goddess, and something
like an ancestor, and they
don't have any other name
for her than Wild Woman.
It is enough to go on with.
The girls learn to use
all of their senses to sweep
for dangers as they travel,
because the land is full of
hazards from spilled chemicals
to violent weather to predators
prowling in search of prey.
They follow fragments of
knowledge half-understood
and half-remembered, always
learning more as they grow.
The wolves have keener ears
and noses, but the girls have
fingers and thumbs, so it
all evens out in the end.
The girls are raised by wolves,
and the wolves are raised by girls,
and they become the Wolf Scouts.
They are stronger together than alone.
* * *
Notes:
The Wolf Scouts
Facelicker -- She is the alpha female wolf, her fur a mix of black, brown, and white. She leads the Wolf Scouts. Her favorite human is Full Moon.
Full Moon -- She has fair skin, amber eyes, and chestnut hair just past her shoulders. She gains weight easily and stays a little plump even when food is scarce. She was 6 years old at the End and is 16 in the picture. Her favorite wolf is Facelicker. They belong to the Wolf Scouts. Full Moon is their best forager and knows the most about useful plants.
Facelicker and Full Moon
Long Legs -- She has fair skin, brown eyes, and shoulder-length hair streaked in lighter and darker shades of blonde. She is tall and skinny. She was 6 years old at the End and is 16 in the picture. She is the older sister of Littlest. They belong to the Wolf Scouts. Long Legs is the fastest runner among the girls and a good hunter.
Littlest -- She has fair skin, brown eyes, and long brown hair with just a little wave. She is skinny and growing slowly. She was 2 years old at the End and is 12 in the picture. She is the younger sister of Long Legs. They belong to the Wolf Scouts. Littlest is their best scrounge, able to open almost anything, squeeze into small spaces, and find useful items even when hidden.
Long Legs sitting and Littlest standing
Big Sniff -- He is the alpha male wolf. His coat is mostly silver with streaks of black, cream, and white. His favorite Human is Giggles. They belong to the Wolf Scouts.
Giggles -- She has fair skin, brown eyes, and long wavy brown hair. She is short and muscular. She was 6 years old at the End and is 16 in the picture. They belong to the Wolf Scouts. Giggles is the strongest among the girls and a good hunter.
Big Sniff and Giggles
* * *
"Bone by bone, hair by hair, Wild Woman comes back. Through night dreams, through events half understood and half remembered, Wild Woman comes back."
-- Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Women Who Run with the Wolves
Girl Scout levels:
Daisies (Grades K-1)
Brownies (Grades 2-3)
Juniors (Grades 4-5)
Cadettes (Grades 6-8)
Seniors (Grades 9-10)
Ambassadors (Grades 10-12)
siliconshaman. It has been sponsored by fuzzyred and scrubjayspeaks. This poem belongs to the Daughters of the Apocalypse series."Half-understood and Half-remembered"
[0 A.E.]
The girls are young
when the world ends.
They are only Daisies
but they know a little
about camping out --
enough they don't die.
Even when their counselors
get sick and die, the girls don't.
They're sad and scared,
but they're alive and
they have each other.
The wolves are barely
better off than the girls.
They've grown up in
big pens with food
thrown in daily, but
when the food stops
coming, then they
dig their way out.
When they stumble
across each other,
everyone freezes
for just a moment.
Then the girls drop
to the ground and
pat their hands,
inviting the wolves
to come and play.
And the wolves do.
They all remember
each other from visits
at the Wolf Park.
It's not enough
to make up for
what they have
lost, but it's better
than nothing.
Their old names
no longer fit in
this new world, so
they name each other.
Full Moon is plump,
even when food is
scarce, and she is
their best forager,
knowing the plants.
Her favorite wolf
is Facelicker,
the alpha female,
mostly brown and white.
Long Legs is the fastest
among the girls and one
of their better hunters. She
is the older sister of Littlest,
their best scrounge, who
can get into almost anything.
Giggles is the strongest of
the girls and another of
their better hunters.
Her favorite wolf is
Big Sniff, the alpha male,
whose coat is mostly silver
streaked with black and cream.
They den in the woods and
under old bridges, with the girls
making shelters as best they can
and the wolves sharing their fur.
The wolves hardly know how
to hunt, but they're learning.
Hunger is a good teacher.
The girls were civilized once,
and they still scavenge for clothes
to keep themselves warm, but
they're learning to be wild.
Something in them awakens,
something old and strange.
Bone by bone, hair by hair,
the girls begin to change.
Through night dreams and
through events half-understood
and half-remembered, slowly,
Wild Woman comes back.
She seeps into the girls
with more than the memory
of mothers and counselors
who died trying to keep
them all safe in a world
suddenly turned savage.
She is something like
a goddess, and something
like an ancestor, and they
don't have any other name
for her than Wild Woman.
It is enough to go on with.
The girls learn to use
all of their senses to sweep
for dangers as they travel,
because the land is full of
hazards from spilled chemicals
to violent weather to predators
prowling in search of prey.
They follow fragments of
knowledge half-understood
and half-remembered, always
learning more as they grow.
The wolves have keener ears
and noses, but the girls have
fingers and thumbs, so it
all evens out in the end.
The girls are raised by wolves,
and the wolves are raised by girls,
and they become the Wolf Scouts.
They are stronger together than alone.
* * *
Notes:
The Wolf Scouts
Facelicker -- She is the alpha female wolf, her fur a mix of black, brown, and white. She leads the Wolf Scouts. Her favorite human is Full Moon.
Full Moon -- She has fair skin, amber eyes, and chestnut hair just past her shoulders. She gains weight easily and stays a little plump even when food is scarce. She was 6 years old at the End and is 16 in the picture. Her favorite wolf is Facelicker. They belong to the Wolf Scouts. Full Moon is their best forager and knows the most about useful plants.
Facelicker and Full Moon
Long Legs -- She has fair skin, brown eyes, and shoulder-length hair streaked in lighter and darker shades of blonde. She is tall and skinny. She was 6 years old at the End and is 16 in the picture. She is the older sister of Littlest. They belong to the Wolf Scouts. Long Legs is the fastest runner among the girls and a good hunter.
Littlest -- She has fair skin, brown eyes, and long brown hair with just a little wave. She is skinny and growing slowly. She was 2 years old at the End and is 12 in the picture. She is the younger sister of Long Legs. They belong to the Wolf Scouts. Littlest is their best scrounge, able to open almost anything, squeeze into small spaces, and find useful items even when hidden.
Long Legs sitting and Littlest standing
Big Sniff -- He is the alpha male wolf. His coat is mostly silver with streaks of black, cream, and white. His favorite Human is Giggles. They belong to the Wolf Scouts.
Giggles -- She has fair skin, brown eyes, and long wavy brown hair. She is short and muscular. She was 6 years old at the End and is 16 in the picture. They belong to the Wolf Scouts. Giggles is the strongest among the girls and a good hunter.
Big Sniff and Giggles
* * *
"Bone by bone, hair by hair, Wild Woman comes back. Through night dreams, through events half understood and half remembered, Wild Woman comes back."
-- Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Women Who Run with the Wolves
Girl Scout levels:
Daisies (Grades K-1)
Brownies (Grades 2-3)
Juniors (Grades 4-5)
Cadettes (Grades 6-8)
Seniors (Grades 9-10)
Ambassadors (Grades 10-12)
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2021-05-24 11:14 am (UTC)But this diversity should help everyone. Any group that survives has to be doing *something* right.
"There are four and twenty ways
of writing tribal lays
and every single one of them is right"
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2021-05-24 06:26 pm (UTC)That's true. Small towns will probably retain the most of Before cultures, but so many people lived in the cities, those refugees have had a huge impact.
>> But this diversity should help everyone. Any group that survives has to be doing *something* right. <<
Probably, although it's possible to have a rapacious society preying on others. There seems to be much less of that here than in most postapocalyptic settings. Fewer males means less aggression overall, and people realize that they can't afford to waste lives anymore. While the population still numbers in the millions, they're spread thinly now, and each small community needs to maintain its numbers.